MixComm announced the latest addition to its portfolio of breakthrough 5G mmWave solutions.

MixComm’s ECLIPSE3741 is a highly integrated 5G beamformer phased array antenna in package (AiP) module. It combines multiple MixComm RFSOI beamforming front end integrated circuits with a sixteen-element (4 x 4) antenna array. Covering FR2 band n260 from 37.0 to 41.0 GHz, it offers exceptionally high linear output power, efficiency and extreme integration. This AiP module is designed to enable λ/2 wavelength antenna lattice spacing when tiled together to support higher power applications. It has also been extensively optimized for heat management.

The AiP approach has been desirable since the very earliest mmWave developments. However, the excessive heat dissipation of legacy beamforming ICs and the inability to leverage high volume packaging technology made previous attempts either too costly or not up to the reliability standards required for cellular wireless. MixComm, with its energy efficient architecture and several generations of experience with RFSOI, has solved these challenges with a highly reliable and cost effective AiP for 5G infrastructure.

By integrating the beamforming front end integrated circuits along with the antenna array, the ECLIPSE3741 makes it much easier to design and manufacture lower cost, more compact and higher data rate mmWave 5G systems. With its straightforward scalability, the ECLIPSE3741 is ideal for every type of 5G infrastructure equipment including:

• Consumer premises equipment (CPE)
• Fixed wireless access (FWA)
• Repeaters and integrated access backhaul (IAB)
• Cellular base stations (gNodeB).

“Innovative semiconductor vendors are making important improvements in the cost, performance, and power consumption of mmWave beamformer ICs and modules,” said Phil Solis, research director at IDC. “These new solutions will be vital to reduce mobile operator’s costs by requiring fewer mmWave radio systems per area, reducing the recurring cost of electricity in aggregate, reducing the size and weight of mmWave radio systems, and increasing the performance and reliability of mmWave 5G service.”

"We are excited to collaborate with MixComm on enabling and providing market-tuned AiP solutions that are critical to realizing 5G mmWave systems," said Guido Ueberreiter, vice president of Pre and Post Fab Operations at GLOBALFOUNDRIES. "Operation at these higher frequencies is not only about successful silicon design but also providing accurate package RF modeling and advanced RF testing capability including over-the-air where required. Co-design of the silicon with the package along with RF Testing, is key to extracting the best performance and creating product differentiation for our customers."

“The challenges facing 5G mmWave require end-to-end solutions that enable optimization across the traditional functional boundaries that have characterized RF subsystems,” said Dr. Harish Krishnaswamy, MixComm Co-Founder and CTO, adding, “AiP for 5G mmWave represents the next frontier in this progression.”

“The ECLIPSE3741 AiP extends the efficiency, high output power and state-of-the-art performance of MixComm’s Summit mmWave transceivers all the way to the antennas. The ECLIPSE product family addresses scalability in the critical mmWave antenna-IC interface and will directly translate to higher performance and lower costs for mmWave arrays,” said Dr. Arun Natarajan, MixComm VP of RF Technology.

MixComm ECLIPSE3741 Product Highlights:

• Sixteen-Element dual polarization phased array antenna module
• Optimized for tiling multiple ECLIPSE modules together for larger arrays
• Full TX/RX TDD beamforming RF chains
• Ultra-low TX and RX power consumption
• High-power stacked SOI CMOS PAs
• Low-loss T/R switches for TDD applications
• Independent dual polarization beam directions
• 2048-entry on-chip beam table storage
• AiP BGA module 15 x 15 mm.

Like the SUMMIT2629, which has been shipping to customers since 2020, the ECLIPSE3741 AiP addresses the critical challenges that prior to MixComm, constrained 5G mmWave success, by:

• Extending range to decrease carrier cost and improve customer satisfaction
• Reducing thermal stress and electrical power consumption budgets 
• Optimizing antenna arrays to reduce module cost.

The ECLIPSE3741 AiP builds on this success by eliminating the complexity and cost of traditional mmWave design and the challenge of designing an optimal 5G antenna array.