SiGe Semiconductor Offers Wi-Fi Front End IC for Mobiles

SiGe Semiconductor introduced an RF switch/LNA Front End IC (FEIC) designed to enhance the performance and functionality of converged Bluetooth/Wi-Fi chipsets for embedded applications, such as smartphones, netbooks, personal media players and digital cameras.


SiGe developed the SE2601T to enhance Bluetooth/Wi-Fi chipsets utilizing an integrated CMOS power amplifier (PA). The company said its design improves the connectivity range of the Wi-Fi solution by placing a high-performance LNA between the antenna and the RF receiver that is part of chipsets from leading vendors such as CSR, Marvell, Broadcom and Atheros. Often the LNA function is omitted in embedded applications such as smartphones due to physical space constraints on the Wi-Fi solution, thus degrading connectivity performance. This LNA significantly increases the sensitivity of the Wi-Fi receiving system -- critical in embedded applications where physically small antennas are limited in their contribution to signal quality.
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