STMicroelectronics, a global semiconductor leader serving customers across the spectrum of electronics applications, is simplifying RF circuit design with a single-chip antenna-matching IC that makes designing with Bluetooth® LE SoCs and STM32 wireless microcontrollers easier and faster.

ST has expanded its family of single-chip antenna-matching ICs that simplify RF circuit design with the introduction of the BlueNRG-LPS system-on-chip (SoC) and two new devices optimized for the STM32WB1x and STM32WB5x wireless microcontrollers.

The MLPF-NRG-01D3 for BlueNRG-LPS and MLPF-WB-02D3 for STM32WB integrate the full filtering and impedance matching network required for optimal RF output power and receiver sensitivity with external antennas.

Each device has a rated impedance of 50Ω on the antenna side. It is available in a chip-scale package with an ultra-small footprint, a bump pitch of 0.4 mm, and a profile of only 630 μm after reflow soldering.

ST's new antenna-matching IC also features a 2.4GHz low-pass filter, making it easy to comply with worldwide wireless regulations, including FCC, ETSI, and ARIB specifications.

The circuit elements are fabricated on glass substrates using ST's Integrated Passive Device (IPD) technology, which provides superior performance and minimizes insertion loss compared to circuits implemented with discrete components.

Integration onto the same die ensures consistent component parameters and improves final product quality.

ST's IPD also enables faster time to market, reduced bill of materials (BoM) costs, and miniaturization of circuit size.

The BlueNRG-LP and BlueNRG-LPS SoCs and the STM32WB1x and STM32WB5x feature ST’s energy-efficient 2.4GHz radio IP, which is accompanied by royalty-free protocol stacks and dedicated software tools.

This allows developers to quickly and easily design cutting-edge wireless products without having extensive RF design skills.

Both devices incorporate advanced hardware security features such as encryption, memory protection, and Public Key Acceleration (PKA), along with memory, peripherals, communication interfaces, and power regulation.

The BlueNRG-LPx SoC is available for standalone or network processor applications and supports Bluetooth® Low Energy 5.3 features such as point-to-point and mesh communications, Advertising Extensions, and Direction Finding.

The MLPF-NRG-01D3 IPD is compatible with all variants of BLUENRG-3x5Vx, BLUENRG-3x5Ax, and BLUENRG-332xx based on UFQFPN and WLCSP packages.

The STM32WB5x and STM32WB1x MCUs are Bluetooth 5.3, Zigbee® 3.0, and OpenThread certified, and feature an Arm® Cortex®-M4 core for application processing and a dedicated Cortex-M0+ core for radio management.

These devices are available in WLCSP and UFBGA packages that interface directly to the MLPF-WB-02D3 IPD. Other MCU products available in UQFN and VQFN packages may utilize other IPDs.

The MLPF-NRG-01D3 and MLPF-WB-02D3 single-chip antenna matching ICs are in production now, priced at $0.14 in quantities of 1,000.