Freescale Semiconductor has introduced a 3.3 V single-chip CMOS broadband silicon tuner designed to reduce power, cost and complexity for a wide range of home entertainment appliances. Addressing the rapidly growing set-top box (STB) and analog/digital TV tuner markets, the MC44S803 tuner is optimized for analog and digital cable STB, digital TV, cable modem and terrestrial STB applications.

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The MC44S803 tuner supports flexible power-consumption modes, enabling power to be adjusted from less than 700 mW to 900 mW to meet various system performance requirements. The device dissipates 700 mW (typical) in the low-power mode. For particular markets, the typical power is 800 mW (digital cable), 850 mW (analog cable), and 900 mW (analog terrestrial).The MC44S803 also offers a programmable power-down mode with fast start-up, enabling further power savings.

The broadband tuner is based on an innovative double-conversion architecture that simplifies STB and TV tuner designs and streamlines the manufacturing process. Single-conversion tuners require multiple tracking filters, which must be adjusted while being manufactured. Manual alignment of tracking filters is a labor-intensive process that adds significant time and cost to the manufacturing process. In addition, tracking filter components typically have poor temperature, age and stability.

The MC44S803 device tunes 48 MHz to 861 MHz RF signals and converts them to an IF signal of 30 MHz to 50 MHz. An on-chip IF amplifier enhances the device’s power efficiency, and two on-chip IF outputs support systems with multiple demodulators (digital demodulator and one analog TV demodulator). The MC44S803’s high-performance capabilities include a wide gain control range (>80 dB AGC range), a choice of analog or digital gain control and the ability to switch between two analog AGC controls for dual demodulator systems. The MC44S803 has an exceptional noise figure of 7.5 dB, as well as outstanding phase noise and competitive distortion figures. The MC44S803 offers a choice of industry-standard I²C or SPI interfaces for easy programming and configuration control.

The MC44S803 broadband silicon tuner samples and evaluation kits are available now, with volume production planned for first quarter of 2006. The device is offered in a Pb-free, 64-pin quad leadless package (QFN). The MC44S803 is available at a suggested retail price of less than $5 in 10K quantities.