Nanoradio Selects Jazz Semiconductor Process for RF Transceiver

Semiconductor supplier Nanoradio picked Jazz Semiconductor’s 0.35-micron SiGe BiCMOS process (SBC35) to manufacture its NRX511 radio IC, a fully-integrated RF transceiver that operates on the 2.4 to 2.5GHz ISM band. Nanoradio's chip is targeted for use in portable devices like mobile phones and multimedia players. Channel filtering is provided on-chip and no extra SAW filters are required. SBC35 is targeted for networking and wireless applications and enables designers to use any combination of three SiGe bipolar (NPN) transistors, each of which provides a different optimization for power and speed. The speed transistor has an Ft of 62GHz and is used for high-performance blocks while the high power transistor can be used to integrate power amplifiers or high-speed drivers on the same chip. The trend in the telecom industry is convergence of fixed and mobile networks, turning the mobile phone into a single multimedia device, according to the Fixed-Mobile Convergence Alliance (FMCA).