Plextek offers low cost, high linearity SPDT switch IC design for licence

Plextek's electronics design services include:FPGA design, ESCAN Radar, MMIC design, GPRS design, Communications product design, Microwave design Defence electronics, Electronic product design, RF design, DSP design, Telemetry system, System Integration,Communications system design, Due diligence

Press Release

Plextek offers low cost, high linearity SPDT switch IC design for licence

Plextek has recently demonstrated a high linearity DC to 2.5GHz, Single Pole Double Throw (SPDT) switch IC. The switch has a measured third order intercept point of +53dBm and exhibits very low second harmonic generation; at an input power level of +34dBm the second harmonic levels are below -80dBc. This makes the switch well suited to applications such as multi-band GSM front-ends where filtering of the second harmonic of the GSM900 band is not practical as it falls within the GSM1800 transmit band. Switch losses are also very low, just 0.4dB at 900MHz rising to 0.6dB at 1.9GHz.

The switch has been fabricated on the low cost, switch PHEMT process of the US pure-play foundry Global Communications Semiconductor (GCS). This is a very simple process requiring just 6 masks, which means that very low unit cost is possible in high volume manufacture. Plextek now plan to offer the design for license to third parties. It can be used either as a component part in front-end modules or as a building block within a higher functionality MMIC. Plextek are also able to customize the design for clients wanting different switching topologies or frequency ranges.

Issued 28/06/2004