LDMOS RF power transistors from NXP offers power and efficiency advantage

NXP Semiconductors N.V. has introduced its eighth generation (Gen8) LDMOS RF power transistors for wireless base stations - allowing signal bandwidths up to 60MHz and providing optimized I/O matching structures.

These doherty mode supporting transistors are being sampled for applications up to 960MHz. The second wave of products will cover GSM-WCDMA-LTE at 1800, 1900 and 2100 MHz and will sample during 2011.

NXP says compared to the previous generation, Gen8 increases power density by 15 percent and improves power efficiency by around 5 percent (depending on the application). Using these SOT502 packaged transistors peak power levels above 500 watts (P3dB) are possible.
NXP's LDMOS technology used in RF power transistors typically runs at 28 V to 32 V, and delivers performance up to 3.8 GHz.

Christophe Cugge, director of marketing, base station power amplifiers, NXP Semiconductors, said: "Wireless base station technology is continuously evolving to follow the growing use of bandwidth-intensive applications. NXP's Gen8 LDMOS offers base station OEMs low-cost, highly efficient technology to manufacture multi-standard, future-proof solutions with better production yields through tighter specifications for mass production. NXP has several Gen8 LDMOS reference designs in development, including asymmetric and 3-way Doherty amplifiers."

Availability: Gen8 LDMOS transistors will be available from Q3 2011.

NXP Semiconductors N.V. has also unveiled its new XR family of "eXtremely Rugged" LDMOS RF power transistors. NXP says the XR family is designed tough-as-nails to withstand the harsh fault conditions often found in applications such as industrial lasers, metal etching and concrete drilling.

The new BLF578XR is a rugged version of NXP's ubiquitous BLF578, an RF power transistor workhorse for a multitude of broadcast and ISM applications. In most applications, the BLF578XR will be a simple plug-in replacement for the BLF578.

Technical Features
Frequency range: 0 to 500 MHz
Gain: 24 dB at 225 MHz
Efficiency: 70 % at 225 MHz
VSWR: 125:1 at 1200 W through all phases
Peak output power: 1400 W (pulsed)
Thermally enhanced: 0.14 K/W

Availability: NXP BLF578XR samples are available now, with volume shipping to begin in Q3 2011.
Further information is available at: http://www.nxp.com/pip/BLF578XR.html