BusinessWire
February 13, 2006 12:01 AM US Pacific Timezone

Avago Technologies Announces Industry's Smallest Duplexers for U.S. PCS and UMTS Band I Mobile Phones

3GSM World Congress 2006

BARCELONA, Spain--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 13, 2006--
FBAR Duplexers' Miniature Height/Footprint, High Performance Surpass SAW and Ceramic Duplexers to Improve Talk Time and Handset Sensitivity

Avago Technologies today announced two new FBAR (film bulk acoustic resonator) duplexers for handsets, PC data cards and other wireless products operating in the U.S. PCS (personal communications service) and UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) frequency bands. Both duplexers are housed in the industry's smallest, ultra-thin packages featuring a height of 1.3 mm, with a 3.8 mm by 3.8 mm footprint. These dimensions also enable miniature RF modules with increased functionality to be embedded into other portable consumer appliances.

Avago's FBAR technology offers significantly smaller size and higher performance compared to competitive SAW (surface acoustic wave) and ceramic duplexers. The new FBAR duplexers achieve their miniature size through Avago's innovative Microcap bonded-wafer chip scale packaging. This size advantage allows handset manufacturers to produce ultra-slim phones, while incorporating the advanced multimedia features that today's users desire. Duplexers play a critical role in CDMA and W-CDMA (wideband code division multiple access) mobile phones and data cards by separating incoming communications from outgoing communications to allow for simultaneous two-way voice or data transmission.

"Our FBAR filters and duplexers are already in 9 of the top 10 CDMA U.S. PCS handsets and 4 of the top 5 W-CDMA handsets, and we recently reached a shipping milestone of 200 million FBAR filters," said Bryan Ingram, vice president and general manager of Avago Technologies' Wireless Semiconductor Division. "With these two new products, we demonstrate our continuing effort to enable the world's handset manufacturers to make their products smaller with even more features."

The Avago ACMD-7402 duplexer is optimized for the U.S. PCS band -- 1850.5 to 1909.5 MHz transmit, 1930.5 to 1989.5 MHz receive. It replaces the highly popular Avago ACMD-7401, offering a smaller 3.8 mm x 3.8 mm footprint, 0.1 mm less height and improved performance. The Avago ACMD-7401 is currently the largest selling duplexer for handsets in the U.S. PCS market.

ACMD-7402 Features

In addition to its ultra-thin size, the ACMD-7402 FBAR duplexer offers low TX insertion loss and excellent rejection that enhances sensitivity and dynamic range. The device extends handset battery life by minimizing current drain of the power amplifier. All specifications are over the -30 C to +85 C temperature range:

-- Handles up to +30 dBm transmit power

-- Minimum receiver noise blocking of 42 dB

-- Minimum transmit interferer blocking of 54 dB

-- Maximum receive band insertion loss of 3.8 dB

-- Minimum transmit-receive frequency isolation of 45 dB receive band, 54 dB transmit band

-- Maximum transmit band insertion loss of 3.5 dB

The Avago ACMD-7601 is a high-performance duplexer for UMTS Band I frequencies of 1920 to 1980 MHz transmit, 2110 to 2170 MHz receive. This frequency band is the most common version of the W-CDMA standard used in Europe and Asia. The ACMD-7601 offers higher performance than SAW duplexers and smaller size with performance comparable to ceramic duplexers.

ACMD-7601 Features

The ACMD-7601 achieves a 47 percent smaller footprint and 0.4 mm thinner profile than the smallest available ceramic duplexers. The device enhances sensitivity and dynamic range of UMTS receivers while extending handset battery life by minimizing the power amplifier's current drain. All specifications are over the -30 C to +85 C temperature range:

-- Handles up to +33 dBm transmit power

-- Minimum receiver noise blocking of 45 dB

-- Minimum transmit interferer blocking of 51 dB

-- Maximum receive frequency insertion loss of 2 dB

-- Maximum transmit frequency insertion loss of 1.6 dB

U.S. Pricing and Availability

The ACMD-7402 FBAR duplexer for U.S. PCS and ACMD-7601 UMTS Band I FBAR duplexer are priced at $1.81 and $1.54 each, respectively, in 100,000-piece quantities. Samples and production quantities are available now through Avago's direct sales channel and worldwide distribution partners.

Further information about Avago's FBAR products and technology is available at www.avagotech.com/rf.

Avago's Mobile Appliance Solutions

Avago Technologies is a leading supplier of semiconductor solutions for today's highly integrated, feature-rich mobile handsets and PDAs. In addition to infrared transceivers for transmitting data, Avago provides FBAR filters and E-pHEMT and CoolPAM power amplifiers that save battery life and help shrink handset size, surface-mount LEDs that provide backlighting styling options, proximity sensors that automate the speakerphone, and ambient light photo sensors that save battery life by controlling backlighting. No other component vendor offers all of these solutions for mobile appliances. More information about Avago's family of mobile appliance semiconductor solutions is available at www.avagotech.com/mobile.

About Avago Technologies

Avago Technologies is the world's largest privately held semiconductor company, with 6,500 employees and net revenue of $1.8 billion in fiscal 2005. Avago provides an extensive range of analog, mixed-signal and optoelectronic components and subsystems to more than 40,000 customers worldwide. The company serves three primary product categories comprising optoelectronics, RF/microwave components and enterprise ASICs, and is recognized for providing innovative, high-quality products along with strong customer service and the industry's best on-time delivery. Avago's heritage of technical innovation dates back 40 years to its Agilent/Hewlett-Packard roots. Information about Avago is available on the Web at www.avagotech.com.

Avago, Avago Technologies, and the A logo are trademarks of Avago Technologies, Pte. in the United States and other countries.