Fujitsu Semiconductor releases industry’s first commercial multi-mode, multi-band 2G/3G/LTE transceiver chip

SINGAPORE: Fujitsu Semiconductor Asia Pte Ltd. recently announced the release of the industry’s first commercial multi-mode transceiver chip, the MB86L12A.

The chip, a follow-up product to the MB86L10A, can eliminate external Low Noise Amplifiers (LNAs) and inter-stage Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) filters from the TX and RX paths of both 3G and LTE lineups. The transceiver features a high-level programming model for radio control using an open standard digital interface (3G and 4G DigRF/MIPI), which is compatible with a wide range of industry basebands. It is ideal for multi-mode, multi-band LTE, UMTS and EDGE mobile handsets. The MB86L12A transceiver chip will be available in sample quantities from December.

The global 4G LTE communication market has been growing rapidly, driven by the rapid development of multi-band and multi-mode cell-phones. Cell-phone manufacturers today should not only provide devices that can handle multiple combinations of mode and frequency, but also cater to a reduced product life cycle and increasing demand for smaller devices. In response to this need, the new MB86L12A RF transceiver chip was developed for applications in all types of cell-phones, data cards or data communication modules.

Simultaneous support for both 3G and 4G interfaces allows the MB86L12A to be paired with either one or two baseband processor ICs as needed. Building on the revolutionary short-cycle RF programming method used in Fujitsu’s MB86L01A, the MB86L12A speeds up RF subsystem implementation with simplified layer-one programming and embedded intelligence. With this revolutionary approach, an engineer just needs to enter a single command stating the desired channel and power level.

Eight outputs directly drive the power amplifier and eliminate the need for TX inter-stage SAW filters. The new RF front-end eliminates the need for LNAs and RX inter-stage SAW filters. Nine primary inputs for Rx and five secondary inputs (Diversity Rx) support LTE, WCDMA and GSM/EDGE. The receiver also incorporates anti-aliasing filters, digital channel filters, digital gain control and high-dynamic-range Analog-to-Digital Converters (ADCs). The new, compact transceiver module enables cell-phone manufacturers to reduce component count, board space and bill of materials.

The MB86L12A supports GSM (GSM850, EGSM900, DCS1800 and PCS1900), WCDMA (bands I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VIII, IX, X and XI) and LTE (FDD bands 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13 and 17, and TDD bands 38 and 40).

Fujitsu Semiconductor obtained technology licensing and intellectual property for its semiconductor mobile phone RF transceiver products from Freescale in 2009, and purchased Freescale’s RF department. There are currently more than 160 design engineers engaged in RF transceiver design, architecture, confirmation, verification and reference design. The department has nearly 20 years of experience in RF research and development, and will dominate technical support for the present L12A products.

Main features of the MB86L12A
* 6.5mm x 9.0mm x 0.85mm Land Grid Array (LGA) package.
* The MB86L12A is the first multi-mode transceiver to eliminate both TX and RX inter-stage SAW filters, as well as LNAs from 3G and 4G paths.
* 8 RF outputs on transmitter, 14 differential RF inputs for the receiver, 9 differential RF inputs on the primary receiver.
* 5 differential RF inputs on the diversity receiver.
DigRF/MIPI 3G (v3.09) and 4G (v1.0) interfaces to the baseband IC.
* RX and TX auto calibration routines, minimized factory calibration time.
* Auxiliary SPI or MIPI RFFE to control PA, switching regulators and antenna switch.
* Optional GPO ports available for non-SPI components.
* Simplified timing and control via a microcontroller unit core.