Mobile TV receiver chip taps 65 nm CMOS process

Feb 7, 2008 11:28 AM

Broadcom Corporation has announced its entry into the mobile TV market with a 65 nm digital TV single-chip receiver that supports the digital video broadcast- terrestrial (DVB-T) and digital video broadcast-handheld (DVB-H) standards. According to Broadcom, it is the first 65 nm system-on-a-chip (SoC) receiver that sets a new precedent for radio performance and accommodates the stringent power and size constraints of cellular handsets and other portable devices that offer mobile TV applications. This technology establishes a critical foundation and adds significant competitive advantage to Broadcom's expanding portfolio of state-of-the-art SoCs. The new mobile TV market solutions will offer compelling improvements that result in longer battery life, better reception and lower costs -- enabling mobile TV for the masses, said Broadcom. The company will demonstrate its new mobile TV SoCs at next week's 2008 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, February 11 to 14.

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The 65 nm BCM2940 mobile TV receiver chip integrates a dual-mode demodulator and tuner to support both DVB-T and DVB-H for the high-growth cellular handset market. While BCM2930 is optimized for DVB-T applications targeting high volume set-top-box and PC markets, and enables digital TV broadcasts as a value-added feature on portable platforms.

"The DVB-H standard is open and supported by an industry-wide consortium, which in turn, should help drive the number of mobile TV users to nearly double each year until 2012," said Clint Wheelock, vice president and chief research officer for ABI Research. "Low power solutions that combine superior radio performance and support DVB-H, in addition to the large footprint of existing DVB-T deployments, will be critical in adopting these services."

"By marrying best-in-class mobile TV tuner technology from the Athena Semiconductor acquisition and our core demodulator IP together with leading- edge process technology, Broadcom has delivered a compelling solution to our customers," said Dino Bekis, director of new business initiatives for Broadcom's Wireless Connectivity Group.

The receivers BCM2940/2930 integrate state-of-the-art RF tuners with robust, field proven and standards-compliant DVB-T and DVB-H digital basebands on a monolithic standard digital CMOS die. Ideally suited for digital TV reception on portable devices almost anywhere in the world, both devices support VHF III, UHF IV and V bands. The BCM2940 additionally supports the EU/US L-bands and integrates 4 Mb MPE-FEC SRAM to handle DVB-H parallel/consecutive streams and services. Both offer a variety of physical interfaces including SPI, SDIO and USB 2.0. In addition, the receivers functionally exceed IEC 62002 (MBRAI) specifications for mobile video applications. And offer improved signal reception of -98 dBm sensitivity DVB-T mode (QEF, QPSK- 1/2) for all UHF/VHF channels, and <3 dB noise figure for all bands while exceeding MBRAI specifications, said the manufacturer. Under typical conditions, power consumptiomn is given at 160 mW, and 209 mW with significant margin over MBRAI specifications (DVB-T mode). Very low between time-slice power of <0.8mW (DVB-H mode). The receivers come in an FBGA and WLBGA packages. According to Broadcom, both mobile TV devices and firmware are now sampling to qualified customers.

www.broadcom.com