Battery-Powered Portables Eye High-Turning-Ratio DTCs

Montreal, Quebec, Canada: At the International Microwave Symposium, Peregrine Semiconductor claimed its two new digitally tunable capacitors (DTCs) enable wide-band tunable networks as well as minimise mismatch losses, improve system efficiency, and reduce radio complexity. The PE64101 and PE64102 are 5-bit, 32-state DTCs. The PE64102 has a tuning ratio of 7.4:1, and a capacitance range of 1.88pF to 14.0pF in 391fF steps for shunt configuration.  The PE64101 features a tuning range of 4.3:1 and a capacitance range of 1.38pF to 5.9pF in 146fF steps for shunt configuration. 

Each DTC features 75µA power consumption in normal operation and 45µA in standby, suiting them for battery-powered portable applications.  IIP3 linearity is 60dBm across a wide tuning range. Moreover, the DTCs are immune to latch-up.  An SPI interface controls the devices, each of which can be mounted in series or shunt configuration. Packaging is a 2mm-by-2mm QFN.

Peregrine Semiconductor