Peregrine Semiconductor ships industry’s first true DC switch

Peregrine Semiconductor Corp., founder of RF SOI (silicon on insulator) and pioneer of advanced RF solutions, announces the availability of the UltraCMOS® PE42020, the industry’s first and only RF integrated switch to operate at True DC, zero Hz. This True DC RF switch features high power handling and maintains excellent RF performance and linearity from DC through 8000 MHz. A reliable alternative to problematic mechanical relays and micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS), the PE42020 is ideal for test-and-measurement (T&M) and automated-test-equipment (ATE) applications.

“For the first time, an integrated RF switch can operate at DC and truly cover the signal over the entire frequency spectrum,” says Kinana Hussain, Peregrine’s senior manager of marketing. “Until now, only mechanical relays and MEMS switches allowed DC pass through, and these products are plagued with reliability issues and lack of integration. The release of the UltraCMOS PE42020 is another example of Peregrine solving the RF industry’s biggest challenges.”

Peregrine’s UltraCMOS technology enables intelligent integration, a capability of integrating RF, digital and analog functions onto a monolithic die. The True DC RF switch integrates high performance RF switching, analog DC tracking and digital control logic and impedance control on a single chip. By integrating these functions, RF engineers gain many benefits, including greater system capability, improved performance, a smaller form factor, reliability and flexibility.

Features, Packaging, Pricing and Availability

Peregrine’s PE42020 is a single-pole double throw (SPDT) True DC RF switch that supports a wide frequency range from DC (zero Hz) through 8000 MHz. A configurable 50-ohm absorptive or open reflective switch, PE42020 exhibits high power handling of 30 dBm at 0 Hz and 36 dBm at 8 GHz. It also has a high linearity of 62 dBm IIP3, excellent total harmonic distortion (THD) of -84 dBc and a high power 0.1dB compression point of 38 dBm at 8 GHz. The PE42020 features a fast switching time of 10 microseconds, a fast settling time of 35 microseconds and a high ESD rating of 1000V HBM on all pins. In addition, it can handle DC or AC peak voltages in the range of +10V to -10V on the RF ports and DC current through RF active ports of up to 80 mA, representing a first for this type of switch. Samples, evaluation kits and volume-production parts are available now. Offered in a RoHS compliant, 20-lead 4 x 4 mm QFN, the PE42020 is $14 each for 1K-quantity orders and $11.35 each for 5K-quantity orders.