Richardson RFPD Inc. announces immediate availability and full design support capabilities for two new HaRP™ technology-enabled UltraCMOS® SP5T switches from Peregrine Semiconductor Corp. (Peregrine).

The devices are manufactured on Peregrine’s UltraCMOS process, a patented variation of silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology on a sapphire substrate, offering the performance of GaAs with the economy and integration of conventional CMOS. Peregrine’s HaRP technology enhancements provide for new RF architectures and unmatched linearity in RF front end solutions.

The UltraCMOS-HaRP combination allows the two new switches to achieve up to 17W of power handling, with fast setting time and no gate or phase lag. The devices also feature low insertion loss (0.25 dB typical at 520 MHz), for reduced RF signal attenuation, less heat dissipation and improved performance. High ESD performance (1.5 kV HBM on all pins) eases manufacturing and results in longer product life. Both switches can be configured as SP5T or SP3T devices.

The PE42850 operates from 30 to 1000 GHz, with excellent 2fo/3fo harmonic performance of -90 dBc into a 1.15:1 VSWR. The PE42851 operates from 100 to 1000 GHz, with excellent 2fo/3fo harmonic performance of -80 dBc into a 1.15:1 VSWR.

The new switches are ideally-suited for next generation transmit/receive and filter-band switching applications, including high-power LTE public safety and military radios.