Silicon Laboratories today announced an industry first, the Si4300, a monolithic CMOS power amplifier (PA) for GSM cellular applications. Further extending a history of unprecedented advances in CMOS, Silicon Laboratories' new power amplifier is the smallest, high-performance, high-power PA available for GSM phones. The Si4300 reduces both board space and component count by more than 70 percent when compared to other solutions. The Si4300 offers GSM phone manufacturers the highest level of integration resulting in the easiest solution to design and produce. With the addition of the PA to the company's RF product family, Silicon Laboratories now provides handset manufacturers with a comprehensive radio solution that requires the least number of external components and the smallest footprint.
Unlike PA modules (PAM), which are composed of multiple die and numerous discretes, the Si4300 uses a single die on a small substrate making it the industry's smallest GSM PA solution and the first functionally-complete monolithic GSM PA solution. Manufactured using TSMC's standard 0.35-micron CMOS process, the Si4300 is also the first GSM PA solution to be implemented in CMOS.
Based on a patented new amplifier architecture, the Si4300 integrates all functions between the transceiver and the antenna switch module (ASM), including complete power control circuitry, thermal and load mismatch protection, harmonic filtering, and input and output matching networks. The Si4300 provides generous margin across operating conditions to the 3GPP specifications to enable the system designer to quickly move from design, through full type approval (FTA) and into production.
The Si4300 PA is a complement to Silicon Laboratories' patented 100 percent CMOS Aero transceiver family. Silicon Laboratories' RF solutions offer the highest level of integration while significantly easing the design manufacturing process. Silicon Laboratories' RF solutions, augmented by the PA product family, will ultimately increase Silicon Laboratories' content in the overall bill of materials.
The Si4300 is General Packet Radio Services (GPRS) Class 12 compatible and can be used in GPRS multi-slot applications. The monolithic GSM PA solution is available in a small (3.9 x 6.4 x 1.3 mm) surface-mount package.
The Si4300 is available in an 18-pin Land Grid Array (LGA) package. Pricing for the Si4300 starts at $2.82 in quantities of 10,000. Samples are available now, and volume production will begin in Q3 2004.