Peregrine Semiconductor has introduced a series of three high-performance, high-throw count Ultra CMOS RF Switches for the Wireless Infrastructure market. The PE42462, PE42482 and PE42412 are SP6T, SP8T and SP12T switches that have excellent performance specifications in a high-throw count configuration. These switches have high port-to-port isolation, high linearity, low insertion loss and exceptional power handling, these absorptive switches are optimized for 4G and 4.5G wireless infrastructure switching applications such as robust digital pre-distortion (DPD) loops, filter banks and transmit/ receive (T/R) paths signal routing. In addition, these three RF switches cover a frequency range from 10 MHz to 8 GHz, making them ideal for 5 GHz LTE Licensed Assisted Access (LAA) and LTE WiFi Link Aggregation (LWA).
The PE42462, PE42482 and PE42412 allow advanced linearization techniques, such as DPD loops, to be used over a greater number of power amplifiers (PAs), maximizing spectral efficiency and data throughput. Recent advancements in wireless base stations have increased RF complexity, resulting in the need for more PAs per antenna sector. However, these PAs, if not optimized, can be a drain on the system’s operational (Opex) and capital (Capex) expenditures. Linearization techniques, such as DPD loops, are used to compensate for the PAs non-linear behaviour and improve adjacent channel power ratio (ACPR) in wireless base stations.
Additionally, a high-throw count switches, like the PE42462, PE42482 and PE42412, enable a DPD loop to be leveraged over a greater number of PAs. However, this high-throw count switch must meet stringent performance requirements in order to preserve the integrity of the monitored signal. Within the closed loop, the switch must have low insertion loss, high port-to-port isolation and high linearity to enable the single DPD receiver to accurately sample multiple transmit paths. Peregrine’s new switches deliver exceptional performance in a high-throw count configuration with no added noise or interference.
The wireless infrastructure market has seen multiple input, multiple output (MIMO) technology evolve into massive MIMO, and their designs must support this ever-increasing number of signal channels. These new switches deliver the performance needed to meet next-generation wireless infrastructure switching demands.
Features, Packaging, Price and Availability
The switches operate over a broad frequency range from 10 MHz to 8 GHz. The UltraCMOS PE42462 (SP6T), PE42482 (SP8T) and PE42412 (SP12T) RF switches are optimized for wireless infrastructure applications. The absorptive switches have extremely high isolation and low insertion loss across the entire frequency range. Each high-throw count switch delivers high linearity of 60 dBm IIP3, exceptional power handling of 33 dBm continuous wave (CW) and a fast switching time in the 200-nanosecond range.
The PE42462 and PE42482 are offered in 24-lead 4 x 4 mm QFN package, while the PE42412 is available in a 32-lead 5 x 5 mm QFN package. Samples and evaluation kits are available now. Volume-production parts will be available at the end of March. For 10K-quantity orders, each PE42462 (SP6T) switch is $1.76. Each PE42482 (SP8T) switch is $2.35, and each PE42412 (SP12T) switch is $2.94.
