The PE4150 mixer IC from Peregrine Semiconductor suits use in radios in the 300- to 900-MHz range. This 50-Ω quad MOSFET core device also is ideal for mixer designs requiring low conversion loss and high linearity such as UHF portable radios. It can be used as an upconverting or downconverting mixer as well.
A highly linear passive mixer, the PE4150 incorporates an integrated local oscillator (LO) amplifier with exceptionally high LO isolation. This allows for LO drive levels as low as –10 dBm, producing third-order intermodulation intercept point (IIP3) values typically associated with 15-dBm LO drives. Also, the PE4150 operates with differential signals at the RF and IF ports, and the integrated LO buffer amplifier drives the mixer core.
This highly linear broadband mixer can cover multiple bands in portable radios. It operates from UHF through 900 MHz, eliminating the need to redesign each band. Its low current drain and 20-µA low-current mode prolong battery life. Manufactured with Peregrine’s UltraCMOS process, a patented variation of silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology on a sapphire substrate, the device offers gallium-arsenide performance with the economy and integration of conventional CMOS.
Packaged in a 4- by 4-mm, 20-lead quad flat no-lead (QFN) package, the PE4150 is available in volume and costs $5.54 in lots of 10,000 units.
Peregrine Semiconductor Corp.