In conjunction with the IEEE 5G Summit in Dresden, Germany, Integrated Device Technology (IDT) announced it is sampling millimeter wave beamformer ICs developed for 5G phased arrays. The first two products are half duplex transmitter/receiver ICs covering 25 to 31 GHz (F5280) and 37 to 41 GHz (F5390).
The beamforming ICs include:
- Four RF antenna ports and one common RF port
- On-chip Wilkinson combiners
- Internal temperature monitoring
- 6-bit chip ID
- Fast SPI module, including registers for each channel to control phase and gain biases
- Hard-wired, fast T/R switching and
- 5-bit DAC outputs to drive an optional external LNA or power amplifier.
The quad core-chip architecture of the beamformer ICs enables low power consumption combined with low noise, high output power and high resolution amplitude and phase control for the front-end functions of the array.
The designs are based on phased array R&D conducted by Gabriel Rebeiz, a professor at the University of California San Diego. Rebeiz commented, “The commercialization of silicon-based phased array antennas has been a focus of mine for many years, and the design team has been able to develop high performance microwave and millimeter wave solutions to enable this. I am happy to help enable IDT provide state-of-the art products to customers and speed up the roll out of phased array solutions across several markets, including 5G millimeter wave.”
Duncan Pilgrim, general manager of IDT's RF division, said, “IDT is now able to provide customers with products in the key 5G frequency bands of 26, 28 and 39 GHz.”
Samples and evaluation kits are available to customers.