Based on MACOM's Gen4 GaN technology, the new MAGB-101822-240B0P and MAGB-101822-120B0P power transistors take advantage of the clear performance benefits of GaN in a robust, low-cost plastic package, enabling cost-efficiency improvements that further distinguish MACOM's GaN power transistors as the natural successors to the previous LDMOS for base station applications.
The new TO-272 plastic package of the MAGB-101822-240B0P and MAGB-101822-120B0P power transistors provides 320 W and 160 W of maximum output power, respectively, in a load-pull configuration with basic tuning only, and covers all cellular bands and power levels within the 1.8–2.2 GHz frequency range. This ability of the transistors to operate over 400 MHz of bandwidth eliminates the need for multiple LDMOS-based products, further optimizing cost and design efficiency.
MAGB's plastic-encapsulated power transistors offer up to 79% energy efficiency, an improvement of up to 10% compared to LDMOS offerings, with only basic tuning across the entire 400 MHz RF bandwidth, and with a linear boost of up to 20 dB. These transistors provide an attractive alternative to ceramic-encapsulated devices without compromising RF performance or reliability; thermal behavior is improved by 10% compared to MAGB's ceramic-encapsulated offerings.
These power transistors enable the implementation of a simple symmetrical Doherty amplifier design while maintaining excellent RF performance compared to the lower performance and complex asymmetrical Doherty topologies imposed by LDMOS-based transistors. With MACOM's MAGB series transistors, Doherty amplifier implementations exhibit the same level of DPD friendliness as LDMOS-based solutions.
“DPD is critical for increasing the efficiency of power amplifiers for 4G and 5G base station applications, and it has a significant impact on network operators’ operating expenses and investments,” said Dr. Chris Dick, Chief DSP Architect at Xilinx. “Our joint demonstration with MACOM at IMS 2016 will showcase the combined DPD capabilities of MACOM’s GaN Gen4 MAGB power transistors and Xilinx’s complementary DPD technologies in our 28nm Zynq® SoC and 16nm UltraScale+™ MPSoC. This joint solution highlights the time-to-market advantages that can be achieved with a proven and interoperable DPD solution.”.
“Our collaboration with Xilinx demonstrates the linearity and ease of correction of our MAGb, especially with signals known to be difficult to correct using GaN-based solutions, such as multi-carrier TDD-LTE and GSM signals,” commented Preet Virk, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Carrier Networks at MACOM. “We believe that with the introduction of our new MAGb power transistors in plastic packages, we are further extending this price/performance advantage over competing LDMOS and other GaN technologies, and accelerating the evolution of GaN-based power amplifiers for wireless base stations.”
MACOM's MAGb GaN Gen 4 power transistor series enables wireless operators to deploy the latest LTE versions and significantly reduce system operating costs at highly competitive prices, with a scalable supply chain combined with MACOM's extensive application expertise and design support team.
Some products in MACOM's GaN MAGb power transistor series are currently being shipped as samples to qualified customers.
