Freescale Strengthens Radio Frequency Power Transistor Portfolio For Commercial Aerospace

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Freescale Semiconductor has reinforced its commitment to the commercial aerospace market with the introduction of a high-performance laterally diffused metal oxide semiconductor (LDMOS) RF power transistor. The latest addition to Freescale's RF aerospace portfolio, the MRF6V4300N device is optimized for HF to UHF communications.

The MRF6V4300N power transistor is ideal for a wide range of applications, including radar and air traffic management systems. It is designed to deliver the highest gain and efficiency in its class. The device delivers RF output power of 300W CW from 10 MHz to 600 MHz. At 450 MHz, it has a gain of 22 dB and 60 percent efficiency.

"Freescale's LDMOS RF devices have been proven in wireless and other applications around the world, and now we're bringing their capabilities to the aerospace market where they are superior in performance to previous-generation devices currently in use," said Gavin Woods, vice president of Freescale's Radio Frequency Division. "In radar systems, bipolar junction transistors and vertical MOSFETs have been the device of choice for decades. However, their performance has not increased significantly over the years. In contrast, Freescale plans to continue enhancing the output power, frequency range, gain efficiency and ruggedness of its LDMOS technology for many years to come."

Housed in Freescale's RoHS compliant, cost-effective over molded plastic package, the MRF6V4300N device has exceptionally tight mechanical tolerances and an extremely low thermal resistance of 0.24 degrees Celsius per watt (C/W), which enhances the management of heat dissipation and helps reduce the heat sink size.

Freescale's RF portfolio for aerospace

Earlier this year, Freescale introduced its first LDMOS RF devices for the commercial aerospace market for use in L-band radar applications. The MRF6V14300H 50V LDMOS field-effect transistor (FET) is designed to deliver up to 330W of pulsed output power from 1.2 to 1.4 GHz with 18 dB of gain and up to 60.5 percent drain efficiency, which is significantly better than the performance of bipolar junction transistors (BJTs) available for this frequency range.

The MRF6V14300H is accompanied by the MRF6V10010N, a driver amplifier that produces up to 10W of RF output power from 960 MHz to 1.4 GHz. When complemented by Freescale's cost-effective MMG3014N pre-driver in a three-stage lineup, the trio of devices can deliver up to 330W of peak RF output power at 1.4 GHz (300 microsecond pulse, 12 percent duty cycle), with 62 dB of total gain, and an overall efficiency up to 59.5 percent including associated combining losses.

In addition, the MRF6VP41KH, introduced in 2007, is one of Freescale's first LDMOS FETs to deliver 1 kW of RF power (100 microsecond pulse, 20 percent duty cycle). It has efficiency of up to 64 percent, 20 dB power gain at 450 MHz and can produce RF output power up to 1 kW at 1 dB compression.

These RF devices, along with the new MRF6V4300N, form a comprehensive portfolio with frequency coverage from HF through L-band. Freescale intends to continue to expand its RF portfolio in frequency and power with additional devices planned for announcement next year.

Freescale‘s aerospace RF devices incorporate electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection, which is engineered to provide exceptional resistance to damage caused by stray energy encountered on assembly lines. This capability also enables a broad gate voltage swing of -6 to +10V to help improve performance when the devices are operated in higher-efficiency modes such as Class C. The rugged devices are designed to handle high impedance mismatches ranging up to 10:1 VSWR at their rated RF output power when operated from 50V DC supplies.

Pricing and availability

The MRF6V4300N, MRF6V14300H, MRF6V10010N and MRF6VP11KH are in full production and supported by test fixtures. For more information about the MRF6V4300N device, visit www.freescale.com/files/pr/rf.html.

For sampling and pricing information, please contact Freescale Semiconductor, a local Freescale sales office or an authorized distributor.

About Freescale Semiconductor

Freescale Semiconductor is a global leader in the design and manufacture of embedded semiconductors for the automotive, consumer, industrial, networking, and wireless markets. The privately held company is based in Austin, Texas, and has design, research and development, manufacturing or sales operations in more than 30 countries. Freescale is one of the world's largest semiconductor companies with 2007 sales of $5.7 billion (USD). www.freescale.com.

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