Maxim Introduces Single-Chip Mobile Television Tuner IC

Sunnyvale, CA -- Maxim Integrated Products introduced the MAX2160, the company's first product in a new family of mobile television tuner ICs. This single-chip tuner is intended for integration into portable devices such as cellular phones and PDAs that will receive digital TV broadcasts based on the Japanese ISDB-T single-segment broadcast standard.

"Mobile TV is an exciting new market with potential applications in a variety of products from cellular phones to automobiles," explained Frank Prest, business manager for the company's TV and radio product line.

With a low 3.5 dB noise figure that eliminates the need for an external LNA, the MAX2160 requires only capacitors, resistors, and a crystal to complete the interface from a mobile UHF antenna to the digital baseband demodulator IC, forming a fully functional TV tuner. Besides this blend of simplicity and power, the MAX2160 achieves the other critical requirement for portable devices-long battery life, consuming less than 125 W of continuous power.

The MAX2160 interfaces to a variety of baseband decoders. The device uses a novel I/Q low-IF architecture allowing either one (I) or both (I and Q) outputs to be used. This architecture achieves 55 dB (typ.) of image rejection as well as +45 dBc of adjacent channel power handling. Additionally, the low-IF architecture eliminates the need for a channel selecting SAW filter. The SAW filter is replaced with on-chip band-pass filters.

"Initial customer reaction to our first true mobile TV tuner has been extremely positive," Prest added. "We expect to build on our initial success with MAX2160 by introducing products for all worldwide mobile TV standards by the end of 2005."

The MAX2160ETL is specified for the extended industrial temperature range (-40 degrees Celsius to +85 degrees Celsius) and is offered in a 6mm by 6mm, 40-pin thin QFN package. Samples are available for customer use now.

Source: Maxim Integrated Products