Peregrine PE46130 and PE46140 monolithic phase and amplitude controllers for Doherty power amplifiers

The PE46130 and PE46140 are Peregrine’s latest additions to its monolithic phase and amplitude controller (MPAC) product family and offer maximum phase-tuning flexibility for Doherty PA optimisation. They are said to optimise system performance while reducing manufacturing costs of transmitters that use symmetric or asymmetric power amplifier designs to efficiently process signals with large peak-to-average ratios.

The monolithic RFICs integrate a 90° RF splitter, digital phase shifters and a digital step attenuator along with a low-voltage CMOS serial interface. They cover a phase range of 87.2° in 2.8° steps and an attenuation range of 7.5 dB in 0.5 dB steps, while providing phase and amplitude accuracy from 2.3 to 2.7 and 3.4 to 3.8 GHz, respectively.

The devices are said to offer good linearity, high output port-to-port isolation and low power consumption relative to competing module solutions. They are manufactured on Peregrine’s UltraCMOS process, a variation of silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology on a sapphire substrate, offering the performance of GaAs with the economy and integration of conventional CMOS. The company’s HaRP technology enhancements deliver high linearity and good harmonics performance.

The controllers are designed for the LTE and LTE-A wireless infrastructure market.