NXP Semiconductors has introduced its third generation of Airfast products which include four LDMOS transistors for cellular macro base stations. The new Airfast 3 technology meets the stringent requirements of all current wireless standards with wide instantaneous bandwidths to cover an entire cellular band using a single device.
NXP’s Airfast 3 delivers excellent performance in key areas that include efficiency, gain, RF output power, and signal bandwidth, while significantly reducing the footprint required to deliver a given level of RF output power. When compared to Airfast 2, this third generation delivers up to 4 percent greater efficiency (53 percent final-stage efficiency and up to 50 percent lineup efficiency), a 20 percent improvement in thermal performance, up to 90 MHz full-signal bandwidth, and space savings up to 30 percent.
Continued advancement of RF power amplifiers is required to reduce the size of cellular base stations. This third generation of Airfast transistors provides industry leading performance in the form factor needed to drive the industry forward.
The four new Airfast 3 LDMOS RF power transistors designed for asymmetrical Doherty amplifier architectures include:
A3T18H450W23S: 1805 to 1880 MHz, 89 W average RF output power, 17.2 dB gain, 51% efficiency
A3T18H360W23S: 1805 to 1880 MHz, 56 W average RF output power, 17.5 dB gain, 53% efficiency
A3T21H450W23S: 2110 to 2200 MHz, 89 W average RF output power, 15.5 dB gain, 49.5% efficiency
A3T26H200W24S: 2496 to 2690 MHz, 37 W average RF output power, 16.3 dB gain, 50% efficiency
The new transistors are the first Airfast products to be housed in air-cavity plastic packages that combine exceptional RF performance with a lower thermal resistance reducing overall system heat dissipation.
Availability
The new Airfast 3 RF power transistors are currently sampling with production expected starting in Q4 2016. Reference circuits for various frequencies are also available. Airfast 3 product demonstrations will be at European Microwave Week in London at the NXP booth# 96.
