Freescale Reduces EDGE RF Subsystem Size by 50 Percent

Expanding its RF offerings for Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) handset design, Freescale Semiconductor unveiled its first RF CMOS 90-nanometer transceiver. The new RFX275-30 is a transceiver subsystem that offers low transmit and receive current, high receiver sensitivity and compact size.

It accelerates phone manufacturers' integration time via simplified programming. Additionally, the new subsystem delivers lower total cost of ownership by significantly shortening test time in manufacturing and bill of materials through integration.

"This subsystem represents the continued focus Freescale has on enabling our customers to quickly and efficiently design next-generation handsets," said Klaus Buehring, vice president and general manager of Freescale's Radio Products Division. "The new subsystem continues to set the bar for time to first call in handset design. With a greater than 50 percent reduction in board size, we continue giving our customers the ability to design extremely small form factor products."

Freescale's layer-one programming function, which debuted in the RFX275-20 RF subsystem earlier this year and is currently used in a variety of handsets worldwide, is included in the new RFX275-30. Previously, in the programming of the baseband to control the RF transceiver, a designer would need to consider all the critical timing between the transceiver, power amplifiers, switches, low noise amplifiers, baseband processor and voltage regulators. These dependencies require a significant investment in time to complete phone development successfully."

Posted to the site on 25th January 2007