With its seventh-generation high-voltage (HV7) RF LDMOS technology, Freescale Semiconductor has achieved the RF power amplifier performance required for use in WiMAX base stations operating in the 3.5-GHz band. Freescale's achievement marks the first time RF Laterally Diffused Metal Oxide Semiconductor (LDMOS) technology from any manufacturer has met these challenges.

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Freescale, which currently offers a portfolio of 12-V GaAs Pseudomorphic High Electron Mobility Transistor (PHEMT) products, plans to continue development of high-voltage GaAs PHEMT technology that will result in higher-power GaAs devices for use in WiMAX system designs, as well as other applications between 2 GHz and 6 GHz.

By offering power transistors in RF LDMOS and GaAs PHEMT technology, Freescale's RF solutions support virtually any high-power wireless infrastructure application—with LDMOS performance up to 3.8 GHz and GaAs PHEMT performance up to 6 GHz. Samples of the initial 3.5-GHz LDMOS device are available now. The MRF7S38075H is a 75-W P1dB RF transistor capable of 42 dBm (16 W) average power while meeting WiMAX performance requirements over the 3.5-GHz band. In addition, samples of 40-W and 10-W P1dB 3.5-GHz devices are expected in February 2006. These three advanced LDMOS devices round out Freescale's existing portfolio of RF power transistors targeting the emerging WiMAX/WiBRO bands at 2.3 GHz, 2.5 GHz and 3.5 GHz.

While advanced HV7 LDMOS devices complement 12-V GaAs PHEMT devices for 3.5-GHz WiMAX applications, the new high-voltage GaAs devices currently under development will operate up to 6 GHz. This makes them a suitable choice for WiMAX and other wireless applications operating in this frequency range. With an operating voltage above 20 V, the GaAs devices will achieve output powers as high as 100 W while still meeting the stringent demands of digitally modulated systems.

Samples of Freescale's first high-voltage GaAs PHEMTs are expected to be available in Q3 2006.