- 7 March 2006 -

TriQuint transmit module targets lower cost CDMA cellphones

On the occasion of the International IC China shows in Shanghai, (6th-7th March) and Shenzhen, (10th-11th March), TriQuint Semiconductor has launched its latest cellular band CDMA transmit module.

The compact TQM613025 offers manufacturers a sought-after '2-chip cellular radio' solution when paired with Qualcomm QSC6010/20/30 single-chip devices. The module is designed for handset makers planning to build low-cost CDMA phones for emerging markets.

The new module adds to an already comprehensive range of components for CDMA technologies and bands. The company is able to assure designers and OEMs of high reliability via its 3rd generation InGaP GaAs HBT process technologies and proven module design techniques.

TriQuint's TQM613025 utilizes BEST (bypass efficient switch topology) amplifier technology, which provides the industry's lowest average current consumption (better efficiency) as measured on the CDG (CDMA development group) curve. Greater efficiency translates into longer battery life for next-generation wireless phones. Industry observers believe efficiency, paired with low cost, are key factors for widespread CDMA acceptance in emerging Asian markets.

TriQuint's new TQM613025 is offered in the world's smallest form factor, 7x4x1.2mm3, making it ideal for thin, compact handset form factors that manufacturers and consumers favour. The module is intended for the cellular band in CDMA wireless handsets and data cards using the Qualcomm single chip family of devices. The TQM613025 includes a duplexer, transmit filter, power amplifier, coupler and all matching components for a complete cellular band antenna-to-transceiver transmit solution.

Despite its small size, TriQuint's new module offers outstanding electrical performance with a quiescent current of less than 20mA and power added efficiency of greater than 20% at 13.5dBm out of the antenna. This performance is dramatically better than what is available through discrete products on the market today, producing considerably longer handset talk-time.

"The TQM613025 provides customers with the most compelling CDMA cellular transmit solution available today: smallest size, thinnest height, longest talk-time, reduced BOM count and drop-in RF functionality for improved time-to-market. All these benefits enable customers to develop state-of-the-art handsets more quickly," said Kevin Schoenrock, TriQuint Semiconductor Product Marketing Manager. "This module is another successful example of our strategy to provide customers a total RF front end solution by partnering with leading chipset manufactures to modularize the antenna-to-transceiver signal path and offer our joint customers the most optimized and complete radio solution available."

Prototype samples of the TQM613025 CDMA cellular transmit module are available.

Meanwhile, TriQuint Semiconductor's Martha R. Krueger, and colleagues have been awarded US Patent #6,998,320. It describes an InAlAs passivation layer for HBTs, rather than the usual silicon oxide or nitride. InAlAs has a lattice constant that is very similar to the lattice constant of standard InP device materials (such as InP and InGaAs), and so can be readily lattice-matched to those materials. By selecting the passivation layer to have a higher bandgap than the HBT components, minority carriers are contained within the HBT by the passivation layer. At the same time, the lattice matching of the passivation layer ensures a robust bond that prevents the subsequent formation of dangling bonds at the exterior surfaces of the base and collector (and/or other passivated surfaces), thereby minimizing surface leakage currents.

Web: http://www.triquint.com