A Monolithic Alternative to Discrete, PIN-Diode Limiters, the Next-Generation UltraCMOS® PE45361 Delivers Reliable and Repeatable Receiver Protection
LONDON – EUROPEAN MICROWAVE WEEK – Oct. 4, 2016 – Peregrine Semiconductor Corp., founder of RF SOI (silicon on insulator) and pioneer of advanced RF solutions, announces the UltraCMOS® PE45361, a monolithic 100-watt power limiter. The next generation in Peregrine’s power limiter product family, the PE45361 builds on the success of the award-winning 50-watt UltraCMOS power limiters and adds higher pulsed power handling, a lower limiting threshold and positive threshold control. UltraCMOS power limiters provide a monolithic alternative to discrete, PIN-diode limiters based on gallium-arsenide (GaAs) technology and protect devices against excessive RF power, intentional jamming and ESD events. The PE45361 delivers reliable and repeatable power protection to sensitive low-noise receivers for test-and-measurement equipment and wireless-infrastructure transceivers.
“Peregrine’s monolithic power limiters offer our customers a novel and robust approach to excessive RF power protection,” says Kinana Hussain, director of marketing at Peregrine Semiconductor. “The introduction of the PE45361 builds upon the key RF performance and bill of materials (BOM) cost advantages of our UltraCMOS limiters, while providing 100W power handling and low limiting threshold to protect sensitive low-noise amplifiers (LNAs).”
Compared to PIN diodes, UltraCMOS power limiters provide a 10–100x improvement in response-and-recovery time, deliver 10–40 dB linearity (IIP3) improvement and offer a 20x improvement in ESD protection. In addition, UltraCMOS power limiters are 8x smaller than the board space required by PIN-diode solutions. Finally, the limiting threshold can be adjusted through a low current voltage control pin (VCTRL), eliminating the need for external components such as DC blocking capacitors, RF choke inductors and bias resistors.
Like other UltraCMOS power limiters, the PE45361 features two operating modes—power limiting and power reflecting—to maximize performance and flexibility. These modes can be selected through the programmable VCTRL pin. In power-limiting mode, the device is invisible to the load. When the incoming RF signal power exceeds the limiting threshold set through the VCTRLpin, the device limits the input RF power. Power-reflecting mode is used in more extreme conditions, and the device reflects most of the incident power back to the source.
Features, Packaging, Price and Availability
Covering a wide frequency range from 10 MHz to 6 GHz, the PE45361 power limiter provides exceptional power protection for high performance, power-limiting applications. It features a high pulsed power handling up to 50 dBm and 100 watts, an adjustable limiting threshold from 5 dBm to 13 dBm and a positive threshold control from 0 volts to 0.3 volts. The PE45361 delivers low insertion loss of 0.95 dB at 6 GHz and high return loss of 15 dB at 6 GHz. With a fast response time of 1 nanosecond and a speedy recovery time of 20 nanoseconds, the PE45361 exhibits high linearity of 37 dBm IIP3 and excellent ESD protection of 3 kV HBM.
Samples and evaluation kits are available now. Offered in a compact 12-lead 3 x 3 mm QFN package, the PE45361 is $4.80 each for 10k-quantity orders.
ABOUT PEREGRINE SEMICONDUCTOR
Peregrine Semiconductor Corporation, a Murata company, is the founder of RF silicon on insulator (SOI) and is a leading fabless provider of high-performance, integrated RF solutions. Since 1988 Peregrine and its founding team have been perfecting UltraCMOS® technology—a patented, advanced form of SOI—to deliver the performance edge needed to solve the RF market’s biggest challenges, such as linearity. By delivering best-in-class performance and monolithic integration, Peregrine’s product portfolio is the trusted choice for market leaders in automotive, broadband, industrial, Internet of Things, mobile devices, smartphones, space, test-and-measurement equipment and wireless infrastructure. A Murata company since December 2014, Peregrine holds more than 280 issued and pending patents and has shipped over 3.5 billion UltraCMOS units. For more information, visit https://psemi.com.
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