Avago Ships Energy-Efficient Active-Bypass Power Amplifiers

SAN JOSE, CA /BUSINESS WIRE/ -- Avago Technologies announced a new family of power amplifiers based on the fifth generation of its revolutionary CoolPAM technology. An "industry first," Avago's ACPM-7353 supports three power modes—high, mid, and active-bypass—along with industry-low quiescent current levels. These unique features can lower the average current of CDMA transmitter usage and conserve power. The power-efficient and highly integrated ACPM-7353 also supports dual-band frequencies (cellular and USPCS) and offers a simplified power-amplifier design, with a single RF input port for each band. Avago Technologies is a leading supplier of interface components for communications, industrial, and consumer applications.

"Continuous mobile handset–usage time is heavily dependant on the power consumption of the power amplifier. Handsets tend to transmit at lower power levels as cellular network coverage matures, so efficiency at this power level is critical to optimizing performance. Power amplifiers in mobile handsets do not need to operate continuously at high output power levels," said Philip Gadd, Senior Marketing Director of Avago Technologies' Wireless Semiconductor Division.

In active-bypass mode, ACPM-7353 consumes very low quiescent current levels (down to 3 mA), with 10 dB gain and power levels up to 11 dBm output power to improve the low-power efficiency of a transmitter. The unique and innovative switchless architecture of Avago's CoolPAM technology is the foundation for providing the high power efficiency in the power amplifier, resulting in an increase in battery life of up to 10% over previous generations.

Gadd continued, "Active-bypass mode in power amplifiers provides tremendous benefit to extending handset battery life in today's CDMA and UMTS/GSM networks. Avago's design team has successfully engineered the next generation of its CoolPAM-based power amplifiers to enable mobile handsets that run cooler and significantly reduce the amount of required current. Our power amplifiers can help to provide the longest mobile phone usage time on the market today."

In addition to the ACPM-7353, Avago introduced three more power amplifiers with active-bypass mode: the ACPM-7351 (dual-band IMT2000 and cellular support), ACPM-7822 (J-CDMA support), and ACPM-7824 (CDMA cellular support). These new power amplifiers are available in two form factors. The dual-band ACPM-7353 and ACPM-7351 ship in a compact 4 mm by 5 mm module; the ACPM-7822 and ACPM-7824 are available in a miniaturized 4 mm by 4 mm module. The simplified and integrated design of each new CoolPAM-based power amplifier takes up less space than two discrete power amplifiers combined.

Pricing and Availability
Avago's ACPM-7353, ACPM-7351, ACPM-7822, and ACPM-7824 are available now. Pricing for the ACPM-7353 begins at $1.90 in 1000 quantities.

Avago's Mobile Appliance Solutions
Avago Technologies is a leading supplier of semiconductor solutions for today's highly integrated, feature-rich mobile handsets. Avago provides FBAR filters and CoolPAM power amplifiers that save battery life and help shrink handset size; infrared transceivers for transmitting data; surface-mount LEDs that provide backlighting styling options; proximity sensors that automate the speakerphone; and ambient-light photo sensors that save battery life by controlling backlighting. "No other component vendor offers all of these solutions for mobile appliances."

About Avago
Avago Technologies is a leading supplier of analog interface components for communications, industrial, and consumer applications. By leveraging its core competencies in III-V compound and silicon semiconductor design and processing, the company provides an extensive range of analog, mixed-signal, and optoelectronics components and subsystems to more than 40,000 customers. Backed by strong customer service support, the company's products serve four diverse end markets: industrial and automotive, wired infrastructure, wireless communications, and computer peripherals. Avago has a global employee presence and heritage of technical innovation dating back 40 years to its Hewlett-Packard roots.

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