Fujitsu's New SL Series of Phase Locked Loop ICs Sets Performance Standards for Wireless Communications Design

SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA — Decmber 8, 1998 — A new family of PLL (Phase Locked Loop) frequency synthesizer chips from Fujitsu Microelectronics, Inc.(FMI) offers a major performance leap for developers of wireless communications products. The new SL series, an extension of the MB15Exx (Single PLL) and MB15Fxx (Dual PLL) families of PLLs, applies a new state-of-the-art RF BiCMOS process and enhanced design techniques to improve every performance parameter. The SL series maintains pin compatibility with Fujitsu's previous low power series, the MB15ExxL and MB15FxxL families.

"This new set of PLLs provides excellent power consumption specifications and the industry's best price-performance, making them ideal choices for handheld products and applications," said Barry Marsh, director of marketing for FMI's wireless products. "The introduction of this series continues Fujitsu's commitment to leadership in this fast-growing market segment. "

Series Meets Wireless Standards Requirements
The SL series comprises a total of seven devices, ranging from the 1.2 GHz MB15E03SL single serial input synthesizer to the MB15F08SL 2.5 GHz/1.2 GHz dual RF PLL device. These advanced PLLs are designed to meet the requirements for wireless products supporting AMPS, IS-54/136, IS-95, GSM, DCSl800, PCSl900, DECT and ISM cordless, WLAN, WLL, 15M900 and 15M2400 applications, among others. The device's power consumption is one of the lowest in the industry. For example, an MBl5E07SL 2.5 GHz device consumes only 3.5 mA at 3V operation. This low-power operation with flexible powerdown modes, coupled with power supply operation from 2.4V to 3.6V, facilitates use in power-sensitive, handheld applications. The prescaler input power sensitivity has also been enhanced to -l5 dBm to accommodate lower power output VCO structures, again allowing reduced system power consumption without degrading performance.

Another key feature is the enhanced RF performance. The phase detector and charge pump circuits have been completely redesigned to provide highly balanced, constant current output resulting in lower noise floors and lower levels of reference spurious noise than previously available. The charge pump output current is programmable to one of two possible settings, adding design flexibility. The SL series is available in standard 16-pin SSOP packages or in Fujitsu's new bump chip carrier (BCC) ultra small chip-size packages. According to Dennis Burman, wireless products marketing manager, the BCC package offers a board space savings of more than 50 percent compared with the 16-pin SSOP package. It also offers improved RF performance, full compatibility with SSOP handling equipment and the facility for optical solder joint inspection. To simplify customer evaluation and design-in, the devices are supported by a series of comprehensive evaluation kits that offer a quick method of proving specific system performance. Pricing for members of the series begins at $1.45 in volumes of more than 10,000 units.

Company Information
Fujitsu Limited is a leading provider of information technology products and solutions for the global marketplace. Founded in Japan in 1935 as a telephone equipment maker, the Fujitsu Group had consolidated revenues of $37.7 billion in the fiscal year ended March 31, 1998. With over 500 group companies, including Amdahl and ICL, Fujitsu is one of the world's largest suppliers of computers and information systems solutions, telecommunications and semiconductor products, software and services. The Fujitsu Group has 180,000 employees worldwide and operations in more than 100 countries. Fujitsu Microelectronics, Inc. designs, markets and manufactures a comprehensive portfolio of advanced semiconductor and electronic devices. These products are carefully defined and co-developed with worldwide industry leaders to assure that they fulfill requirements for significant new applications in computing, communications, networking, convergence designs and multimedia. For product information, call 1-800-866-8608 or visit the web site at http://www.fujitsumicro.com.