April 22, 2013, Seoul – Infineon Technologies (Korea Representative Director Seung-soo Lee) has launched a new family of transceivers that simplifies system design and production logistics by replacing more than 10 discrete components. These highly integrated single-chip transceivers offer low power consumption, enabling the reduction of fixed costs in high-speed data transmission millimeter-wave wireless backhaul communication systems. These transceivers are suitable for use in wireless data links between LTE/4G base stations and core networks with data transmission speeds of 1 Gbps (Gigabit per second) or higher.

Infineon's BGTx0 product family is available in a standard plastic package and replaces more than 10 discrete components used in existing system designs with a single chip. Customers can utilize standard SMT assembly flows, significantly simplifying the assembly process.

The BGTx0 family provides a comprehensive RF (radio frequency) front-end for use in wireless communication in the 57–64 GHz, 71–76 GHz, and 81–86 GHz millimeter wave bands. This system solution requires less space and enables improved reliability and reduced costs for critical wireless backhaul links required for mobile base stations supporting LTE/4G networks.

“V-band and E-band microwave frequencies used for LTE/4G backhaul support data transfer speeds three times faster than previous generation networks,” said Philipp von Schierstaedt, Executive Vice President and General Manager of RF and Protection Devices at Infineon Technologies. “Therefore, customers require the highest RF performance to meet operational requirements. The new transceiver family leverages Infineon’s accumulated process technology and advanced RF design technology to enable system designers to reduce the complexity of backhaul connectivity solutions, streamline production processes, and ultimately improve quality and field reliability,” he said.

The BGTx0 transceiver integrates all RF building blocks, including an I/Q modulator, voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO), power amplifier (PA), low-noise amplifier (LNA), programmable gain amplifier (PGA), and SPI control interface, and is provided as a single chip in a compact plastic embedded Wafer Level Ball Grid Array (eWLB) package. Since RF performance verification and calibration are performed using built-in self-test (BIST) during the manufacturing process, the BGTx0 transceiver can be easily integrated into the manufacturer's production process.

By leveraging the outstanding RF performance of SiGe technology—including a PA's maximum 18 dBm output power, an extremely low 6 dB LNA noise figure, and excellent VCO phase noise of over -85 dBc/Hz at a 100 kHz offset—system designers can implement high-speed modulation schemes ranging from QAM64 with a sample rate of 500 Msamples/sec and QAM32 with a sample rate of 1 Gsamples/sec at a bit error rate (BER) of 10⁻⁶ BER. Electrostatic discharge (ESD) performance exceeding 1 KVolt enhances robustness and facilitates system design for customers. Furthermore, these backhaul transceiver products have low power consumption of less than 2 W, enabling network operators to reduce associated fixed costs. In addition, the direct conversion architecture of these transceivers enables significant simplification of the interface between RF and baseband compared to existing discrete millimeter-wave systems.

In addition, system suppliers can benefit from the quality and reliability provided by SiGe ICs utilizing Infineon's automotive-grade production flow.

supply
Engineering samples of the BTGx0 product family are scheduled to be supplied starting in September 2013, and mass production is scheduled to begin at the end of this year.