Avago Technologies Pushes The Envelope On RF For Smartphones

The global mobile telephone market is undergoing a significant change as the cell phone, which was previously used primarily as a voice communications device, has morphed into a more useful multi-media communications tool. To support the burgeoning data traffic, networks are upgrading to higher speed standards and adding more frequency bands, making radio design quite complex. Additionally, consumers expect these new "Smartphones" to remain small, reasonably priced, and hold a battery charge for at least a day.

At Avago Technologies, we combine our rich experience with innovation in developing ‘best-in-class' wireless technologies to design components that help designers meet these challenges. The success of these products has made us a market leader in the field of radio frequency (RF) components for third generation (3G) mobile handsets.

Avago's RF products can be found in many of the most popular Smartphones on the market today. Our innovative CoolPAM™ technology helps save battery life by turning on only those parts of a power amplifier (PA) that are absolutely needed to create just enough signal to close the link between handset and base station. CoolPAMs exist for all the major frequency bands in use for 3G and more are being developed for the bands that will emerge for the fourth generation (4G) Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard.

We also pioneered a new type of RF filtering with our proprietary Film Bulk Acoustic Resonator (FBAR) technology. Most 3G standards use a filter pair called a duplexer to keep transmit and receive signals separate. FBAR duplexers, which help to extend battery life, can support frequency bands with difficult characteristics like close transmit-to-receive spacing, yet are very small and introduce only a minimum amount of signal loss. The ability of FBAR filters to provide useful amounts of filtering between closely spaced signals will help to satisfy ever-increasing data demands. FBAR filters and CoolPAM PAs are also combined into integrated structures called Front End Modules (FEMs) that provide a faster - and smaller - way for phone designers to bring a complex design to market.

If your Smartphone design calls for advanced technology RF components, make your first call to Avago Technologies at www.avagoresponsecenter.com/400.

SOURCE: Avago Technologies