Infineon Introduces World’s First 1.8V Broadband Low Noise Amplifier to Support Portable TV and Mobile TV Systems

Neubiberg, Germany and Atlanta, Georgia, USA – June 17, 2008 – Today at the IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium 2008 (IMS2008), Infineon Technologies AG (FSE/NYSE: IFX) announced the availability of the company’s new low noise amplifier (LNA), one of the industry’s smallest broadband LNAs for portable and mobile TV applications. The new BGA728L7 is the first mobile TV LNA worldwide to support 1.8V, 2.8V and 3.3V operations. It is optimized for a wide frequency range covering VHFIII, UHF and L bands, and one of the few mobile TV LNAs offering dual modes (high-gain mode and low gain mode). At high-gain mode BGA728L7 helps to improve reception sensitivity for weak signals through its best-in-class noise figure of 1.4 dB combined with 16 dB gain. For a strong input signal the BGA728L7 can be switched to a low-gain mode to offer higher linearity with low current consumption of only 0.5 mA.

Mobile TV is a key feature for next-generation high-end communication products, such as cellular phones, personal media players and portable devices including laptops. According to a report from the UK-based market research company Datamonitor, mobile television is set to achieve massive growth over the next years with a global market for such services to reach about 155 million subscribers by the end of 2012, up from just 4.4 million in 2007. Asia Pacific markets will be the most accepting of mobile TV. In Japan, already more than 50 percent of the latest mobile phone models feature mobile TV capability

The main challenges for mobile TV systems are to achieve a high dynamic range, enhance system sensitivity for in-door reception or tunnels, and to fulfill the stringent MBRAI (MultiBasic Rate Interface) requirements. The Infineon BGA728L7 supports various standards such as DVB-T, DVB-H, ISDB-T, MediaFLO, T-DMB, as well as the emerging Chinese standards including CMMB, TMMB or DMB-TH. With its high gain and excellent noise figure, the system sensitivity can be considerably improved. By switching to low-gain mode with input 1dB Compression Point of +3.5 dBm, the LNA can handle higher input power level and therefore increase the system’s dynamic range by up to 20 dB. The fast switching time of 3.5 µs also allows it to support time-slicing-based mobile TV systems.

“With the BGA728L7, Infineon expands its RF discretes portfolio from the strong presence in stationary RF tuner frontend further into the portable and mobile TV arena. The BGA728L7 is the first mobile-TV LNA in the market that offers 1.8V capability and covers such a wide range of frequencies,” said Michael Mauer, Senior Marketing Director Silicon Discretes at Infineon Technologies. ”The high-performance LNA demonstrates Infineon’s deep expertise in RF tuner applications as well as the company’s leading position in RF MMIC technology and design.”

Technical Features at a Glance

The BGA728L7 supports a broad supply voltage range from 1.5 V to 3.6 V. At high-gain mode, it consumes about 5 mA current. The noise figure is as low as 1.4 dB and the gain is about 16 dB with minimum variation over the complete working frequency range. At low gain mode, input IP3 (Third Order Intercept Point) is +16 dBm at a current of only 0.5 mA. Due to the low voltage and low current capabilities, BGA728L7 allows higher energy efficiency for portable devices and extends their battery usage time. The on-chip 1 kV HBM ESD protection simplifies the system ESD protection effort and makes BGA728L7 very robust against ESD events during the assembly process.

BGA728L7 integrates not only a high performance SiGe bipolar transistor but also components such as active-biasing, feedback and input/output matching circuits. BGA728L7 needs only three external passive components compared to approximately five to ten additional external components of current designs. As a result, system designers of mobile phones and portable devices can easily use BGA728L7 to realize a compact, low-power mobile TV design within short time.

Availability, Package and Pricing

Samples of the BGA728L7 are available now, with volume production to begin in July 2008. Infineon provides evaluation kits to support customer designs. Pricing starts at USD 0.6 each for 10k units. The BGA728L7 is shipped in a tiny leadless TSLP7-1 package of only 2.0 mm x 1.3 mm x 0.4 mm in size.

For further information on Infineon’s LNAs and the new BGA728L7 is available at www.infineon.com/rfmmic

Infineon Technologies AG, Neubiberg, Germany, offers semiconductor and system solutions addressing three central challenges to modern society: energy efficiency, communications, and security. In the 2007 fiscal year (ending September), the company reported sales of Euro 7.7 billion (including Qimonda sales of Euro 3.6 billion) with approximately 43,000 employees worldwide (including approximately 13,500 Qimonda employees). With a global presence, Infineon operates through its subsidiaries in the U.S. from Milpitas, CA, in the Asia-Pacific region from Singapore, and in Japan from Tokyo. Infineon is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and on the New York Stock Exchange (ticker symbol: IFX).