RFIC

2015

1

DelfMEMS

Next Generation RF Switching Solution for 4G/5G

Enabling High Speed Information -

to anyone, anywhere, anyhow, anytime

RFIC

2015

2

Power Loss in 4G Handsets

Focus of this presentation is on handset power loss experienced with LTE wireless technology

Power loss is observed through different aspects of mobile phone performance degradation and from the reduction of mobile battery life point

of view

RFIC

2015

3

Cellular Standards Evolution

MarketingEvolution

4G

3.9G

3.5G

3G

2.5G

2G

Channel Bandwidth

PDC (Japan) GSM (Europe) IS-136/AMPS (US TDMA) IS-95A (US CDMA)

iMODE HSCSD GPRS IS-95B (US CDMA)

WCDMA (FDD & TDD) TD-SCDMA (China) E-GPRS (EDGE) cdma2000 (1xRTT)

HSDPA HSUPA UMTS-TDD 1x EV-DO (1xRTT)

HSPA+, E-HSPA LTE (R8,9, FDD & TDD) 802.16e (Mobile WiMAX)

LTE-Advanced(R10,11,12+, FDD & TDD)

802.16m / WiMAX2(WirelessMAN-Advanced)

EDGE EvolutionWiBRO(Korea)

MarketingEvolution

1.2288 MHz

200 KHz

5 MHz

1.4, 3, 5, 10, 20 MHz

5 MHz

up to 100 MHz

RFIC

2015

4

LTE Categories

* 2x2 DL (Rx) MIMO assumed for all LTE categories, except for Cat5

** LTE Cat5 not implemented due to the MIMO 4x2 requirement

Categories LTE Cat1 LTE Cat2 LTE Cat3 LTE Cat4 LTE Cat5 LTE Cat6 LTE Cat9

Data RatesDL 10 Mbps 50 Mbps 100 Mbps 150 Mbps 300 Mbps 300 Mbps 450 Mbps

UL 5 Mbps 25 Mbps 50 Mbps 50 Mbps 75 Mbps 50 Mbps 50 Mbps

Channel Bandwidth

DL 20 MHz 20 MHz 20 MHz 20 MHz (CA) 20 MHz 40 MHz (CA) 60 MHz (CA)

UL 20 MHz 20 MHz 20 MHz 20 MHz 20 MHz 20 MHz 20 MHz

DL MIMO Configuration *

Not sup. 2x2 2x2 2x2 4x2 ** 2x2 2x2

RFIC

2015

5

LTE Evolution

• LTE Cat6 300Mbps/50Mbps not even close to customer needs and market requirements

• Peak data rate target for the most recent LTE-Advanced technology starts at 1Gbps for down link connections

• Even this is just a first step and target that will have to be improved rapidly and constantly

RFIC

2015

6

Data Rate Speed (R)Evolution

Today FUTURE

(LTE Cat9)

450 Mbps RX peak data rates with LTE 3x20MHz CA deployments

50 Mbps TX peak data rates

Enabling the 1000x mobile

data challenge

(source: Qualcomm)

• More spectrum

• 3.5GHz Bands introduction

• 5GHz Bands introduction

• 100 MHz RX carrier aggregation

• TDD + FDD aggregation

• TX Diversity Path introduction

• TX Carrier Aggregation

MEMS advantage

MEMS advantage

MEMS advantage

MEMS advantage

MEMS advantage

RFIC

2015

7

RF Front End (RF FE)

• Explosion of LTE band numbers– Increased complexity

– Mobile handset market price erosion pressure

• RF FE architecture design for smartphones becomes exceptionally challenging

MIPI RFFE

Serial Control

Master

Diversity

Antenna Port

Diversity

RX LNAs

RFIC

Main

RX LNAs

RFIC

TX FE

RFFE

Control

Interface

Diversity

FEM

SPnT

SPnT

mipi RFFE

mipi RFFE

High

Bands

FEMid

mipi RFFE

mipi RFFE

Envelope TrackingModulator

VPA

...mipi RFFE

mipi RFFE

PA

mipi RFFE

VHF 4G PAM

SPnT

mipi RFFE

mipi RFFE

SPnT

mipi RFFE

Main

Antenna Port

PA

3G/4G

HB

mipi RFFE

SPnT

PA

3G/4G

LB

GSMPA

PA

MMMB

PAM

SPnT

mipi RFFE

mipi RFFE

Antenna

Tuner

MIPI RFFE

SPnT

SPnT

RFIC

2015

8

RF Components Challenges

• Power loss (insertion loss)

• Isolation

• Linearity intermodulation and cross modulation

• Components frequency response

RFIC

2015

9

RF FE and Battery Life

• Battery life is the most important consideration for over 70% of users

(IWPC conference year 2014)

IDC consumer space 360 (May 2014 survey)

RFIC

2015

10

PA’s Dominate Battery Drain

• LTE is not good for your battery….

– LTE network typically require short bursts of high RF Power for data transmission 0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

-50 -40 -30 -20 -10 0 10 20

Probability[%]

Transmit Power Level [dBm]

WCDMA Handset Transmit Power Distribution

Current Drain

[mA]

RFIC

2015

11

RF Switch as a Solution

• Industry standard assessment of RF switches:

Figure of Merit

(Ron * Coff )

264

448

485

250270

224207

160

113

8

192

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2

DelfMEMS

Single Gate

Triple Gate

STM

Next Gen STM

0.18um Thin-film

0.18um Thick-film

0.35um

0.25um

FoM

Ron

Peregrine UltraCMOS

Infineon CMOS

pHEMT GaAs technology

SOS technology

SOI technology

CMOS technology

RF MEMS technology

RFIC

2015

12

RF MEMS Switch Benefit

-1.6

-1.4

-1.2

-1

-0.8

-0.6

-0.4

-0.2

0

600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 2200 2400 2600 2800 3000

Inse

rtio

n L

oss

[d

B]

Frequency [MHz]

SP12T Switch Insertion Loss

DelfMEMS

Solid State

RFIC

2015

13

Talk Time

• DelfMEMS RF MEMS switch compared to existing SOI antenna switch

• Current savings across bands equivalent to percentages of longer talk time

RF MEMS Antenna Switch gives up to 17% increased battery life

= Longer Talk TimeMIPI RFFE

Serial Control

Master

Diversity

Antenna Port

Diversity

RX LNAs

RFIC

Main

RX LNAs

RFIC

TX FE

RFFE

Control

Interface

Diversity

FEM

SPnT

SPnT

mipi RFFE

mipi RFFE

High

Bands

FEMid

mipi RFFE

mipi RFFE

Envelope TrackingModulator

VPA

...mipi RFFE

mipi RFFE

PA

mipi RFFE

VHF 4G PAM

SPnT

mipi RFFE

mipi RFFE

SPnT

mipi RFFE

Main

Antenna Port

PA

3G/4G

HB

mipi RFFE

SPnT

PA

3G/4G

LB

GSM

PA

PA

MMMB

PAM

SPnT

mipi RFFE

mipi RFFE

Antenna

Tuner

MIPI RFFE

SPnT

SPnT

B 7,40,41… SOI RF MEMS Current IL [dB] -1 -0.35 Savings

CDL 21% 8% 13%

B 1,2,3,4… SOI RF MEMS Current IL [dB] -1.2 -0.3 Savings

CDL 24% 7% 17%

B 5,8… SOI RF MEMS Current IL [dB] -0.9 -0.25 Savings

CDL 19% 6% 13%

B 13,17… SOI RF MEMS Current IL [dB] -0.85 -0.25 Savings

CDL 18% 6% 12%

RFIC

2015

14

Data Throughput

• Decreased RF FE Insertion Loss will improve Rx Sensitivity by the same amount

• Both Main and Diversity Antenna Switch IL are compared between SOI and RF MEMS Switch

RF MEMS Antenna Switch gives nearly 30% Rx sensitivity

improvement = Better Call Quality

MIPI RFFE

Serial Control

Master

Diversity

Antenna Port

Diversity

RX LNAs

RFIC

Main

RX LNAs

RFIC

TX FE

RFFE

Control

Interface

Diversity

FEM

SPnT

SPnT

mipi RFFE

mipi RFFE

High

Bands

FEMid

mipi RFFE

mipi RFFE

Envelope TrackingModulator

VPA

...mipi RFFE

mipi RFFE

PA

mipi RFFE

VHF 4G PAM

SPnT

mipi RFFE

mipi RFFE

SPnT

mipi RFFE

Main

Antenna Port

PA

3G/4G

HB

mipi RFFE

SPnT

PA

3G/4G

LB

GSM

PA

PA

MMMB

PAM

SPnT

mipi RFFE

mipi RFFE

Antenna

Tuner

MIPI RFFE

SPnT

SPnT

B 7,40,41… SOI RF MEMS RxSI

IL [dB] -1 -0.35 16%

B 13,17… SOI RF MEMS RxSI

IL [dB] -0.85 -0.25 15%

B 5,8… SOI RF MEMS RxSI

IL [dB] -0.9 -0.25 16%

B 2,3… SOI RF MEMS RxSI

IL [dB] -1.2 -0.3 23%

B 1,4… SOI RF MEMS RxSI

IL [dB] -1.4 -0.3 29%

B 1,2,3, 4… SOI RF MEMS RxSI

IL [dB] -1.4 -0.3 29%

B 5,8… SOI RF MEMS RxSI

IL [dB] -0.9 -0.25 16%

RFIC

2015

15

Conclusion

• LTE-A main market driver

– Higher Down-Link & Up-Link Data Speed … • Comes with a cost …

Shorter battery life and degraded signal reception quality

• RF MEMS switches offer the best solution

– Reduction of RF FE losses

– Broadband design for high frequency bands

– High linearity design for UL CA

– Exceptional band-to-band and TX /RX Isolation