Integrated Amplifier Families Serve As Drop-In RF Modules June 2001 Issue Published Date: June 01, 2001
Two amplifier families have been developed using a thin-film-on-glass process that integrates low-loss passive components with an active RF device in a single plastic package. The amplifiers are able to act as drop-in modules that greatly simplify the design of RF products. One of the families consists of four low-noise amplifier (LNA) modules targeted at systems such as cellular base stations and infrastructure equipment for emerging wireless LAN, 802.11a, 802.11b and Bluetooth applications. The devices span the 800 MHz to 6.0 GHz frequency range and have noise figures as low as 0.65 dB. The LNAs are priced from $2 to $3 each/10,000. The other family includes three power amplifier (PA) modules specifically designed for single- or dual-band cell phones and base stations working in the PCS frequency band between 1.7 and 1.9 GHz. They are all three-stage amplifiers with inputs and outputs matched to 50 ohms and are priced under $5 each/10,000.
