RF Micro Devices :: RF Solutions & Wireless Communication Technology

Resource Center - Technical Articles

The RFMD^® Resource Center is the repository for an extensive collection of information created by RFMD experts. Here you’ll find app notes and white papers, presentations and technical articles, and a storehouse of tools and charts to make doing your job easier. Explore our up-to-the-minute releases, as well as tried-and-true resources that remain relevant.

RFMD’s technical articles, chock full of research, trends and data, as published in industry magazines and journals.

Type	Title / Description	Published
	Integrated 2.2 V RF Converter with Flexible Tuning Range Microwave Journal takes a look at the RF2054 frequency converter.	Mar 2013
	Emerging RF Technologies for Smartphones and Connected Devices As we approach the new year, we have a much better idea of what market dynamics and resulting technologies will be driving handset RF developments in 2013. The most prominent RF-related technologies will be carrier aggregation (CA), envelope tracking More...	Nov 2012
	Taming the Smartphone Power Consumption Vicious Cycle Cellular PA power conversion, cellular PA design architecture, and envelope tracking focus on reducing the cellular PA impact on smartphone power consumption.	Nov 2012
	Wireless Trends to Look for at MWC 2013 Microwave Journal outlines the trends and key technologies for GSMA Mobile World Congress 2013 in Barcelona.	Nov 2012
	The Autonomous Future RFMD takes a look at today's autonomous devices and the possibilities for the future.	Oct 2012
	VCA Broadband Linear Adjustment Challenges PIN diode-based RF attenuators have been the preferred method in the past to achieve voltage-variable RF gain, but they are often troublesome to design and require a large number of associated components. This article discusses the challenges and how More...	Oct 2012
	An 8-W 250-MHz to 3-GHz Decade-Bandwidth Low-Noise GaN MMIC Feedback Amplifier with > +51-dBm OIP3 This paper describes a GaN monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) cascode feedback amplifier design which achieves up to 8 W of output power and greater than +51 dBm OIP3 across a 250–3000-MHz decade bandwidth.	Oct 2012
	Linear Power Amplifiers for Point-to-Point Radio Applications Microwave links in the range of 10 – 27 GHz are commonly used for point-to-point (P2P) connectivity. With the phenomenal increase of cell phone users and demand for high data rates, link traffic is getting congested. Since available channel bandwidt More...	Oct 2012
	Solutions for Next Generation WiFi Standards Progressing WiFi standards place new requirements on WiFi front ends. To address these new requirements, manufacturers are introducing new complete lineups of WiFi front end modules, PAs, switches, and LNAs. The front end products are compatible wi More...	Oct 2012
	RFMD's GaN Power Amplifier Solutions GaN technology products are incresingly used in radar, aviation, cable TV, microwave, and civilian base stations.	Sep 2012
	Small Cells and Backhaul RFMD's Gorden Cook shares his insight on small cells and the opportunities in this emerging market in the In My Opinion column.	Jul 2012
	Boosting Battery Life The revolution in connectivity and mobility is driving a tidal wave of change through communication technologies worldwide along with tremendous technical challenges for the networks and mobile devices. The consumer demand for hand-held smart devices More...	Jul 2012
	Make HFC Network Improvements a Reality Relatively new to CATV market, GaN-based hybrid amplifiers installed in HFC networks can provide up to twice the delivered RF power at lower distortion levels, with higher composite carrier-to-noise (CCN), and at 20% or lower power dissipation than a More...	Jul 2012
	Wi-Fi – A Growing Technology Becomes Mainstream Remember the first Wi-Fi wave in the late ’90s when Wi-Fi was growing as the new wireless conduit between laptop computers, the World Wide Web, and sometimes-secondary components such as printers? Initially meant for cashier systems, the first Wi-Fi More...	Jul 2012
	High-Efficiency Cellular Power Amplifiers Based on a Modified LDMOS Process on Bulk Silicon and Silicon-On-Insulator Substrates With Integrated Power Management Circuitry An RF high-voltage CMOS technology is presented for cost-effective monolithic integration of cellular RF transmit functions. The technology integrates a modified LDMOS RF power transistor capable of nearly comparable linear and saturated RF power More...	Jun 2012
	GaN Powers High Speed Wireline Networks This article illustrates the wireline network specifications and requirements, describes how GaN die-based amplifiers solve operator needs,compares and quantifies GaN die-based solutions versus alternatives and provides a glimpse of future wireline n More...	Jun 2012
	RFMD Leverages RF GaN Capability to Build Power HEMTs RFMD's Dan Schwob is interviewed about the company entering the power conversion arena with rGaN-HV at PCIM in Nuremberg in May.	May 2012
	GaN: The Technology Of The Future Gallium nitride (GaN) has turned into the new industry buzzword. We hear of new products and application breakthroughs using GaN on a regular basis. GaN is unique compared to other technologies because it can not only be used to emit bright light via More...	Apr 2012
	Rule Out Thermal Issues During Development Real-time monitored thermal-cycling techniques can improve reliability prediction for packaged modules.	Apr 2012
	RFFM4202 in 11n Performance RFMD's RFFM4202 is a newly developed, integrated PA, harmonic filter and high linearity SPDT switch FEM, in IEEE802.11n mode at the antenna port provides 27.5dBm linear output.	Mar 2012
	High Performance Front End Modules for Zigbee Applications RFMD has developed an extensive portfolio of high performance single-chip front end modules (FEMs) for AMI and other ZigBee® (802.15.4) applications to help address the global demand for Smart Energy solutions.	Feb 2012
	RFMD's GaN Portfolio Expands to Include High-Linearity, Broadband Power Amplifiers In multi-channel communication systems where the PA linearity may be a primary figure of merit, RFMD’s RFHA3942 and RFHA3944 high-linearity, unmatched power transistors offer an optimized balance of linearity, drain efficiency, peak power and cost.	Jan 2012
	GaN Switches Enable Hot Switching at Higher Power RF power control elements, such as RF switches, are an integral element of any RF system and traditionally have been built using Si PIN diodes for higher power applications and GaAs FETs for lower power and higher speed applications. The use of More...	Jan 2012
	Point-To-Point: Creating Wireless Solutions For Future Backhaul Networks The overwhelming popularity of mobile smart devices such as smartphones and tablets and their Web-based applications creates a significant increase in data traffic on wireless and wired networks. The increased presence and flexibility of these device More...	Jan 2012
	OEMs Share Their Accomplishments in 2011 & Predicitions for 2012 RFMD's David Schnaufer and Frank Stewart discuss the company's accomplishments in 2011 and predictions for 2012.	Dec 2011
	Wireless Data Connectivity with LTE Power Amplifiers RFMD has provided some background on LTE, specifically the downlink, and what it means to the PA designer. The LTE downlink signal has a high modulation bandwidth with many orthogonal carriers. This results in very high PAPR, and drives the entire P More...	Nov 2011
	LTE PAs Offer Fast, Powerful Wireless Data Options Given the variety of LTE frequency bands, and the range of preferred power levels, RFMD has developed a family of LTE-compatible power amplifiers for data connectivity applications.	Nov 2011
	The Internet Of Things: Connecting Everything, All The Time The evolution of technology has created a society in which we have round-the-clock access to information. We are connected to the Internet via laptops, tablets, or smartphones; having information readily available is now taken for granted. The inform More...	Nov 2011
	An Efficient PA for Multiple Wireless Standards Applications RF PAs are the key components in wireless communication systems. Strict performance requirements for output power and linearity must be met so that the wireless system complies with regulations. In addition, different systems have their own design re More...	Jul 2011
	RFSA2013 and RFSA2023 Broadband High Performance Voltage-Controlled Attenuators The RFSA2013 (5V supply) and the RFSA2023 (3.3V supply) devices are elegant solutions to a voltage variable attenuation function in one very simple-to-use package.	Jun 2011
	Wideband GaN Power Amplifiers for Software-Defined Radios RFMD, using its leadership in the design and manufacture of multi-band power amplifiers for cellular handsets, has developed an advanced GaN process that facilitates development of next generation broadband power amplifiers for emerging applications More...	May 2011
	RFMD Front End Modules Consumers of portable electronic devices are demanding longer battery life, longer connectivity range, and simultaneous operation of multiple functions. The need to multitaks is rapidly becoming one of the favorite features of portable devices and RF More...	Jan 2011
	New RF Metrics for the Smartphone-Centered World A decade ago, “cell phones” were all about voice communication, an extension of the home phone for those who needed to be on the go. Today’s Smartphone-centered world finds that approach not nearly as relevant. Metrics from yesterday's cell phone pa More...	Jan 2011
	GaN Comes of Age Gallium nitride (GaN) devices have been around for several years, but their impact on available high power amplifiers has only recently started to be felt. The importance of these devices on power amplifier technology is certain to grow and is alread More...	Dec 2010
	How Mobile Device Users are Impacting the Future of RF Front Ends In the last decade, cellular mobile devices have undergone dramatic changes. What began as a mobile phone simply used for people to talk or text with one another has now turned into a handheld device that provides multi-functionality such as a phone, More...	Nov 2010
	Wideband Low Noise Amplifiers for 3.3 Volt Operation When designing a radio receiver, it is important to focus on low noise amplifier design in order to obtain the highest system performance. Critical system parameters such as dynamic range, sensitivity and strong signal handling are governed by the fi More...	Sep 2010
	RFMD’s RF2051 Offers Higher Levels of Integration for Diversity Radios Diversity reception commonly used in wireless links are susceptible to multipath effects. Multipath is a common problem in urban or indoor environments where transmitted signal can reach the receive antenna after following a number of transmission pa More...	May 2010
	An Efficient, UHF, Dual Band RF Power Amplifier Module on a 22 mm2 Footprint Designed in First Pass through Accurate Modeling and Simulation This paper describes the design, simulation, and experimental verification of an RF power amplifier (PA) module, implemented in gallium arsenide heterojunction bipolar transistor semiconductor technology (GaAs HBT). The PA module, which includes all More...	May 2010
	Winning at Whac-a-Mole: redesigning an RF transceiver A team from RFMD describes a design upgrade for one of the company’s devices, the ML5800 transceiver. The chip is used in cordless telephones and has sold more than 20 million units. The chip uses a two-port frequency shiﬅ keyed modulator, a relative More...	Mar 2010
	Comparison of Large-Signal-Network-Analyzer Calibrations We develop a procedure and metrics for comparing large-signal-network-analyzer calibrations. The metrics we develop provide a bound on differences between measurements obtained from large-signal-network-analyzer calibrations, as well as specific inf More...	Feb 2010
	AlGaN/GaN HFET Reliability High-voltage AlGaN/GaN HFETs are undergoing rapid development and are proving to be excellent candidates for application in communications base station transmitters and as power amplifiers for use in radar transmitters from C-band up to W-band. Nitri More...	Jun 2009
	Self-shielded Quad-band EGPRS Transceiver with Spur Avoidance The next generation of global system for mobile communications/EDGE large signal polar modulation transceivers from RF Micro Devices (RFMD), Greensboro, NC, is described. The transceiver is realized as a single die in 0.18- m CMOS. A very low interme More...	Apr 2009
	A Custom III-V Heterojunction Bipolar Transistor Model Communication systems today comprise the major use of GaAs technology with the highest volumes found in the cellular handset front-end. Here, heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) power amplifiers (PA) and Pseudomorphic High Electron Mobility Trans More...	Apr 2009
	A View from China (Editorial) Opinion from RFMD General Manager	Feb 2009
	Next-generation GaN-based Power Amplifiers for Radar Applications Typical radar system implementations include weather observation, civilian air traffic control, high-resolution imaging along with various military radar applications such as ground penetration, ground and/or air surveillance, target tracking, and fi More...	Jan 2009
	An Introduction to Broadband Impedance Transformation for RF Power Amplifiers Carrier spectrum is shaping cellular front end requirements. 3G band combination forecast for handsets and data cards is presented. Multimode, multi-band complexity will require innovation in front ends to meet performance and cost targets.	Jan 2009
	Wideband 400W Pulsed Power GaN HEMT Amplifiers RFMD has developed 400W pulsed output power GaN HEMT amplifiers operating over 2.9 – 3.5GHz band or 17% bandwidth. Under pulsed RF drive with 10% duty cycle and 100μs pulse width, the amplifier delivers output power in the range of 401 – 446 W over t More...	Oct 2008
	A New Level of Integration in RF Components (RF205x) By the title of this paper, one might assume that it is about to describe yet another system-on-a-chip (SOC) design, or even something beyond that. Not so. The intention is to describe a level of integration below that of an SOC, and explain why this More...	May 2008
	Conformal Technology Delivers Breakthrough in RF Shielding (MicroShield) There are multiple ways components and modules can be shielded on printed circuit boards. Conformal shielding, labeled MicroShield, is a new technology that outperforms others by reducing radiated power significantly and minimizing EMI/RFI interferen More...	May 2008
	HBT Modeling: Compact Modeling of III-V Heterojunction Bipolar Transistors for PA Applications HBT Modeling: Compact Modeling of III-V Heterojunction Bipolar Transistors for PA Applications	Apr 2008
	Innovation in Package-Level EMI/RF Shielding (MicroShield) With the trend towards smaller implementation sizes and higher functionality, older can shields may not always be the answer. Electromagnetic shielding is a common need in radio frequency/microwave applications; however, it is often an afterthought i More...	Mar 2008
	Breakthrough in Conformal Self-Shielding of Electronic Packages (MicroShield) Like it or not, electromagnetic shielding is a common need in radio frequency/microwave applications and, in an increasing number of cases, a requirement from the customer. Commonly, it is an afterthought in the design of electronic components. This More...	Jan 2008
	RFMD® Low Noise Amplifiers Provide Broadband Performance for Multi-Market Applications RFMD® introduces the first series of pHEMT LNAs to their MPG product offering. The RF386X series of LNAs, consisting of single-stage, dual-stage, and dual-channel architecture, provide users with a variety of design choices, broadband performance, an More...	Nov 2007