Qorvo® announced a new generation of RF Fusion™ RF front-end (RFFE) modules that deliver breakthrough functional integration, including a combined mid/high-band module. The new RF Fusion modules leverage Qorvo’s unique combination of core capabilities to enhance performance, reduce power consumption and shrink total solution size, while also delivering greater carrier aggregation capability and enabling smartphone manufacturers’ expanding global coverage requirements.
“Mobile devices now use more than 40 bands and common carrier aggregation band combinations, which is driving an exponential increase in RFFE complexity. This has led to a shift to integrated RFFEs,” said Chris Taylor, director of RF Component Strategies at Strategy Analytics. “Device OEMs want integrated front end solutions that satisfy operators’ increasingly difficult RF requirements and tight space constraints.”
Eric Creviston, president of Qorvo’s Mobile Products Group, said, “Qorvo is enjoying increasing demand for our most highly integrated RF Fusion™ modules. The performance benefits are clear for an expanding set of device manufacturers: RF Fusion delivers enhanced performance, extends battery life, reduces phone board layout requirements and accelerates time-to-market. A fully integrated module is a more efficient solution, enabling more features, including full support for common carrier aggregation band combinations.”
Compared to current implementations of integrated front end modules, Qorvo’s newest RF Fusion solution reduces the total number of RFFE placements from four to two, including a combined mid/high-band module. If implemented using discrete components, similar functionality could require as many as 80 placements. This savings is critical; as phones have grown from one to six or more antennas, and the new “full-screen user experience” takes hold, the layout for the RF core is even tighter.
These two new Qorvo modules enable a broad range of use cases, including a comprehensive list of regional carrier aggregation combinations, in a pre-validated RF subsystem, helping smartphone manufacturers reduce time to market, optimize their handset SKU portfolio and improve manufacturing yield.
| Qorvo Part Number | Functionality | LTE Bands | Size (mm) |
|---|---|---|---|
| QM77031 mid/high-band module |
3 PAs, Tx/Rx and antenna switches, BAW filters, duplexers and a multiplexer | 1, 2(25), 3, 4, 7, 34, 39, 40 and 41 Power Class 2 (HPUE) specification for higher output power on Band 41 |
6.5 x 8.6 |
| QM77033 low band/very low band module |
LTE and 2G PAs, transmit/receive and antenna switches and duplexers | 8, 12, 20 and 26 | 6.0 x 7.6 |
Qorvo is at the forefront of Solving RF Complexity™ and is discussing its industry-leading portfolio of advanced RF Front End solutions and pre-5G and 5G wireless infrastructure at Mobile World Congress 2018, from February 26 through March 1.
Qorvo’s high-performance RF solutions simplify design, reduce product footprint, conserve power, improve system performance and accelerate the adoption of carrier aggregation. Qorvo combines systems-level expertise, broad manufacturing scale, and the industry’s most comprehensive product and technology portfolio to help leading manufacturers accelerate delivery of next-generation LTE, LTE-A and IoT products. Qorvo's core RF solutions set the standard for next-gen connectivity, with unmatched integration and performance at the heart of the connected world.