Peregrine Semiconductor Corp. today announced the availability of the UltraCMOS PE42020, which the company calls the industry’s first and only RF integrated switch to operate at true DC, zero Hz. This true-DC RF switch features high power handling and maintains its RF performance and linearity from DC through 8,000 MHz. A reliable alternative to problematic mechanical relays and MEMS, the PE42020 is suitable for test-and-measurement and automated-test-equipment (ATE) applications.
“For the first time, an integrated RF switch can operate at DC and truly cover the signal over the entire frequency spectrum,” said Kinana Hussain, Peregrine’s senior manager of marketing. “Until now, only mechanical relays and MEMS switches allowed DC pass through, and these products are plagued with reliability issues and lack of integration. Today’s release of the UltraCMOS PE42020 is another example of Peregrine solving the RF industry’s biggest challenges.”
Peregrine’s UltraCMOS technology enables intelligent integration, a capability of integrating RF, digital, and analog functions onto a monolithic die. The true-DC RF switch integrates high-performance RF switching, analog DC tracking, and digital control logic and impedance control on a single chip. By integrating these functions, RF engineers gain many benefits, including greater system capability, improved performance, a smaller form factor, and greater reliability and flexibility.
Peregrine’s PE42020 single-pole double-throw (SPDT) true DC RF switch is a configurable 50-Ω absorptive or open reflective switch. It exhibits high power handling of 30 dBm at 0 Hz and 36 dBm at 8 GHz. It also has a high linearity of 62 dBm IIP3, total harmonic distortion (THD) of -84 dBc, and a high-power 0.1-dB compression point of 38 dBm at 8 GHz. The PE42020 features a fast switching time of 10 μs, a fast settling time of 35 μs, and a high ESD rating of 1,000 V HBM on all pins. In addition, it can handle DC or AC peak voltages in the range of +10 V to -10 V on the RF ports and DC current through RF active ports of up to 80 mA, representing a first for this type of switch. Samples, evaluation kits and volume-production parts are available now. Offered in a RoHS compliant, 20-lead 4 x 4 mm QFN, the PE42020 is $14 each for 1K-quantity orders and $11.35 each for 5K-quantity orders.
