A pair of single-chip ICs has been developed to produce higher data rates for data and Internet phones. E-Gold+ is designed for baseband logic, while SMARTi+ is geared for radio-frequency (RF) transceivers. Used together, they're capable of data rates as high as 107 kbits/s, increasing standard performance by a factor of ten. The combination also achieves general packet radio service (GPRS) capabilities of data service class 10.
Produced in 0.25-µm process technology, E-Gold+ fulfills the requirements of ultra-low-power system implementations. It also operates at 2 V. Meanwhile, SMARTi+ enables the entire RF bill of materials—including the power amplifier—for under $9. Integration of a tri-band image reject mixer (IRM) with low-noise amplifiers (LNAs) is used for the receiver front-end architecture. An integrated reference voltage-controlled crystal oscillator (VCXO) is employed as well. This innovation reduces external component count and cost.
The simple application multislot (SAM) feature included with SMARTi+ facilitates high-speed data operations. Based on an intelligent RF phase-locked loop (PLL) concept, it enables lock-in times of less than 150 µs. It also exceeds GPRS class 12 requirements. As a result, handset standby times are significantly increased.
E-Gold+ is available in a 200-pin BGA package. SMARTi+ comes in a 48-pin P-TQFP. Sample quantities are now available, with volume production starting this summer.
Infineon Technologies Corp., 1730 North First St., San Jose, CA 95112; (888) 463-4636, (408) 501-6000; www.infineon.com.