CATEGORIES

RF Down-Converters

RF down-converters part of the RF solutions, are designed to comply with the high performance requirements of cellular base stations, and are flexible, highly-integrated and cost-effective one-chip alternatives to discrete, expensive and bulky mixer, PLL and VCO solutions.

The STw8210xB family is available in four frequency variants covering the most common wireless standards, in a spectrum from 700 MHz to 2.7 GHz. This series has been designed in ST’s proprietary BiCMOS.

Each device in the STw8210xB family includes the RF down-mixer, the IF amplifier and the RF synthesizer with voltage-controlled oscillators (VCOs) in 7x7 QFN 44 package. The STW8210 series provide flexibility for designers by supporting different modes of operation.

The key benefits are:

  • High level of integration: reduced BOM, footprint and increased reliability
  • Performance (high input linearity, 8 dB conversion gain, a NF of 10.5 dB, excellent spurious “performance”, dual digital bus interface: SPI & I²C)
  • Flexibility:
    • Can be used on receiver section where the STw8210xB can be configured to offer a dedicated LO frequency generator per each antenna path
    • Can be set in a master/slave configuration for more traditional antenna diversity scheme
    • Can be used on transmit loopback, where also customer design can profit from its excellent gain flatness and the integrated 10-bit DAC to drive external PIN diode for an optimal signal level calibration
  • Full coverage of the cellular infrastructure standards spectrum
  • Compliancy with the requirements of cellular base stations
  • Leading edge RF performances
  • Cost-effective solution

The targeted applications are:

  • Cellular 3G/4G infrastructure equipment
  • Other wireless communication systems