UltraCMOS Peregrine Semiconductor: Microwave capabilities of CMOS technology

I believe that the majority of the CMOS abbreviation ( CMOS ) is associated with logic chips and field effect transistors. For the production of microwave components are mainly used elements of the groups /// - / V Periodic Tables: GaAs, InP, SiGe. Developing CNS technology - Silicon On Sapphire (Si & Al2O3) for more than 25 years, Peregrine Semiconductor created UltraCMOS 11 technology, which in terms of Ron * Coff has better parameters than GaAs, which has dominated the market for decades.

The impetus to the development of KNS technology was its increased radiation resistance, which is necessary for space (Space) and highly reliable (Hi-Rel) applications. For example, the “thyristor effect” ( SEL ) is completely absent. Missing and increased sensitivity to low doses of radiation ( ELDRS ). Currently, such products are supplied through a division of E2V . Peregrine Semiconductor supplies civilian products - currently up to 40 GHz - and continues to raise the bar!

At the moment, Peregrine Semiconductor manufactures for a highly reliable market: switches up to 8.5 GHz, digital attenuators up to 4 GHz, secondary power converters, PLL chips up to 5 GHz and frequency pre-dividers up to 13.5 GHz.
')
For the civilian market: switches up to 40 GHz, digital attenuators up to 8 GHz, capacitors tunable to 3 GHz, power limiters with variable threshold up to 6 GHz, mixers, monolithic amplitude and phase controllers and GaN FET drivers.

For a number of parameters, Peregrine Semiconductor microchips are successfully competing with such well-known manufacturers as Skyworks, RFMD (Qorvo), Hittite (ADI). Consider the most successful of them.

1. Microwave Switches ( RF Switches )

Microwave switches are made from the moment the company was founded and have the widest range - more than 50 products. They are used in cellular communications, radio and measurement equipment, antenna systems and cable networks.



The advantages of Peregrine Semiconductor switches are their low cost, low power consumption, high linearity and, for many, an extended operating temperature range. Of the shortcomings - they are not the fastest and powerful. The best switching time is 145 ns, the largest switching power is 18W. The maximum number of poles is 5 ( SP5T ). At a frequency of about 200 MHz, the best loss is 0.1 dB, and the isolation is 94 dB.

The PE42020 is a unique “True DC” SPDT switch, from 0 Hz to 8 GHz. The word "true" emphasizes that it is capable of switching a DC voltage (up to ± 10 V) and a current (up to 80 mA). Used in measuring equipment and discussed in detail here .

PE42723 - 75 ohm SPDT switch 5-1794 MHz, superlinear with IP3 = 88 dBm @ (17 MHz & Pin = 18 dBm) at the input, with very low harmonics, which are characterized as 3fo = -140 dBn @ 17 MHz. Loss per pass is 0.3 dB, isolation between RFC-RFX ports is 54 dB @ 204 MHz. It has built-in protection against electrostatics 3 kV ( HBM ). At the moment, it is the only switch in the world that complies with the DOCSIS 3.0 / 3.1 standard for cable networks.

PE42524 is a broadband SPDT switch 0.01-40 GHz in a flip-chip package. Recommendations for the installation of such a housing with examples are given in AN42 .



The switch is characterized by: high insulation 50 dB @ 26.5 GHz, 51 dB @ 40 GHz; excellent linearity - 31.5 dBm @ 26.5 GHz and low losses - 1.8 dB @ 26.5 GHz, 3.1 dB @ 35 GHz. It has built-in protection against electrostatics 2 kV (HBM). This is the only CMOS switch that climbed so high! Among the other broadband switches should also be noted PE42522, which is operational up to 26.5 GHz and PE42542 / PE42543 - up to 18 GHz.

PE423422 - SPDT switch 100-6000 MHz with an extended temperature range of -40 ° ... + 105 ° C according to the automotive standard AEQ100 Grade2 (105 ° C). Losses - 0.25 dB @ 1 GHz, isolation 41 dB @ 1 GHz; for 6 GHz, -0.9 dB and 16 dB, respectively.

PE42920 - dual differential switch 10-6000 MHz. Losses - 1 dB @ 1 GHz, isolation of 26 dB in the same channel and 30 dB - between different channels. It has built-in protection against electrostatics 2 kV (HBM). Consumes only 100 uA @ 3.3 V

2. Digital Attenuators ( DSA )

The civilian line contains more than 20 chips PE43XXX, both 50 and 75 Ohm ones. The top product in the line is PE43705 with a working frequency range from 9 kHz to 8 GHz, introduced attenuation up to 31.75 dB with a minimum step of 0.25 dB, which corresponds to 128 combinations or 7-bit control.

For highly reliable applications, only PE94302 is available with a working frequency range of 0.25–4000 MHz, introduced attenuation up to 31.5 dB with a minimum step of 0.5 dB, which corresponds to a 6-bit control.

One of the drawbacks of digital attenuators are emissions at the time of their switching, due to the asynchronous operation of the internal keys. Peregrine Semiconductor developed the PE43711 / PE43712 / PE43713 (glitchless) attenuator family, which is almost completely free from this disadvantage. In addition, these microcircuits are pin-compatible with previous generations of digital attenuators, which makes it easy to replace them.

3. Digit tunable capacitors ( DTC ) and tuning switches ( TCS ).

In a way unique chips. DTC line contains 8 chips PE64X0X with a frequency range of 100-3000 MHz. This chip contains a set of switchable capacitors with 4 or 5-bit control, which gives 16 or 32 different states. Maximum range of capacitance: 1.88-14 pF in increments of 391 femtopharads, minimum: 0.6-2.35 pF in increments of 117 femtopharads. These chips are controlled by SPI or I2C interface. It is convenient to use them for tuning antennas, adjusting, correcting and optimizing various microwave circuits.

Tuning Switches (TCS) PE613010 / PE613050 are designed for switching external correction circuits for the same frequencies.

4. Power Limiters

Used to protect sensitive circuits in impulse systems. Produced two limiters. The top PE45450 has an operating frequency range of 9 kHz to 6 GHz and a limit threshold of 25-35 dBm. They are characterized by high linearity at the input IP3 = 70 dBm @ 915 MHz. Constant allowable power - 10 W, pulsed - 50 W. It has built-in protection against electrostatics 8 kV (HBM). An important advantage, in addition to the adjustable limit threshold - high reaction rate - about 1 ns!

5. Mixers

The current lineup consists of 5 chips. Currently, the most high-frequency is the mixer with the suppression of the mirror component PE41901 for the frequency range 10-19 GHz. Conversion loss is 8 dB with a heterodyne power of 17 dBm, the intermediate frequency is 0-4 GHz. It has built-in protection against electrostatics 1 kV (HBM). The microcircuit is fully pin-compatible with HMC527LC4 (8.5-13.5 GHz) and HMC528LC4 (11-16 GHz) mixers manufactured by ADI (Hittite).

6. Prescalers frequency ( Prescalers )

For the civilian market, only PE35400 is produced - a divider by 4 for frequencies 3-13.5 GHz in the form of a crystal. The remaining 7 chips - dividers of 2, 4 and 8 to 13.5 GHz are intended for a highly reliable market.

7. PLL microcircuits ( PLL )

For the civilian market, only PE83336 is produced: integer PLL for frequencies 0.5-3 GHz. More precisely, this is a microcircuit in a CQFJ- 44 ceramic package and military temperature range -55 .. + 125 ° C

The remaining 11 microcircuits - 3 fractional and 8 integer PLLs - are intended for a highly reliable market. The best parameters in its class are possessed by PE97240 integer radio-resistant PLL: operating frequency 800-5000 MHz, reference frequency 100 MHz, normalized phase noise -230 dBc / Hz. The microcircuit is produced in a CQFP- 44 ceramic package. Its typical phase noise at a frequency of 3 GHz (power 2.7 V, prescaler 5/6, +25 degrees C, filtering band 500 kHz) is shown below.

8. Phase Switches and Monolithic Amplitude and Phase Controllers ( MPAC )

This chip is devoted to review article . At the moment, the phase shifter is available only one: PE44820 - for the frequency range 1.7-2.2 GHz, which covers the entire 360 ​​° with a phase resolution of 1.4 °. When working in a narrow band, it can be used for frequencies 1-3 GHz.

MPACs are the 3rd most complex PE461X0 integrated circuits for building Doherty and PE19601 composite amplifiers for use in antenna arrays and measurement equipment. PE46120 / PE46130 / PE46140 operate in the 1.8-2.2 / 2.3-2.7 / 3.4-3.8 GHz frequency bands, respectively, and in addition to the phase shifter, which covers 90 ° in 2.8 ° increments, also contains an attenuator of 7.5 dB in 0.5-dB increments. PE19601 in addition to the phase shifter, which overlaps 360 ° with a step of 5.6 ° and an attenuator of 31.5 dB with a step of 0.5 dB, also contains switches for different operating modes. This chip operates in the frequency range of 8-12 GHz (X-band).

9. Power Conversion Chips ( Power Management )

These include high-performance (above 93%) voltage converters for the highly reliable market PE99151 / PE99152 / PE99153 by 2/6/10 A respectively. They are used for secondary power supply of calculators ( FPGA , DSP ). The input voltage for all converters is 4.6–6 V, output voltage is 1-3.6 V. Chips are produced either in the CQFP-32 package or in the form of a crystal (DIE suffix).

For the civilian market, the world's fastest field-effect transistor driver GaN PE29100 is produced. It comes in a flip-chip package of 2x1.6 mm, has a switching frequency of 33 MHz, a propagation delay of 8 ns and an on / off time of 1 ns.



For all products, Peregrine Semiconductor manufactures demo boards ( EVK ). The company’s website also contains additional materials for each microcircuit: diagrams and list of EVK elements, S2P files, application recommendations ( AN ), materials declaration.

The company publishes a list of discontinued chips ( Discontinued Products ) in the current year.
Peregrine Semiconductor has AS9100C , ISO9001: 2008 , ISO / TS16949: 2009 certificates and pays great attention to the quality of its products. On the company's website there is a corresponding section , which publishes the “Quarterly Reliability Report”, which contains data on the level of failures: EDH , FIT , MTTF both in different technologies and in groups of microcircuits.

Peregrine Semiconductor is developing by expanding the product range and improving the technology, following the path of reducing design standards and increasing operating frequencies. It all started with UltraCMOS2 technology and design standards of 500 nm, modern microwave technology UltraCMOS11 uses design standards of 130 nm and plates with a diameter of 300 mm. The use of only common chemical elements: Si and Al, makes it inexpensive and promising.