STMicroelectronics, a global semiconductor leader serving customers across the spectrum of electronics applications, has revealed a new chip for faster wireless networking with smartphones, tablets and other connected devices.
 
The innovation enables designers to save space and power consumption allowing more features and longer battery life.
 
ST’s new DIP2450 diplexer is used to connect a Wi-Fi IC to a single antenna hence simplifying circuitry and saving pc-board space. It can also connect a Bluetooth IC to the same antenna. Leveraging ST’s Integrated Passive Device (IPD) process technology, the DIP2450 has extremely small dimensions of only 1.1 x 1.25 mm and passes signals efficiently enabling high-speed communications and low power consumption.
 
The DIP2450 supports the latest high-speed dual-band Wi-Fi standard (IEEE 802.11n), permitting multi-channel communications in the 5GHz band, in addition to the established 2.4GHz operation. This allows extra user capacity as well as higher data rates per user. Handsets with IEEE 802.11n have achieved speeds of more than 60 Mbps, which is higher than the world’s best average broadband Internet connection speeds of around 50 Mbps recorded in countries such as South Korea, Hong Kong and Japan.
 
ST’s DIP2450 diplexer has already been validated for use with ST-Ericsson’s CW1260 dual-band Wi-Fi system-on-chip for multi-radio mobile applications. The CW1260 will also use two other ST IPD products, a 5GHz band pass filter and a matched balun (a signal-transforming device). The complete solution lowers power consumption for extended battery life, saves pc-board space, and reduces component count.
 
ST has a range of IPD components for RF applications, which deliver advantages such as competitive cost structure, a small form factor, and reduced power losses in systems such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, ZigBee, WiMax and 3G LTE. The product range comprises diplexers, filters, baluns, RF couplers, triplexers, and impedance-matching devices.
 
“The new diplexer, with its outstanding characteristics for high-speed Wi-Fi applications, demonstrates our edge in delivering high-performing RF front-end components with the highest integration, smallest footprint, and best combination of power consumption and size,” said Eric Paris, ASD&IPAD Product Marketing Director, STMicroelectronics.

Major features of DIP2450-01D3:
•Footprint less than 1.4mm2
•Low profile (less than 600µm after reflow)
•Typical insertion loss 0.6dB (2.4GHz and 5GHz)
•High attenuation
•High rejection of out-of-band frequencies
•IPD integration enabling stable and repeatable RF front-end characteristics

The DIP2450-01D3 is in mass production now in the 1.1 x 1.25 mm 4-bump wafer-level chip-scale package (WLCSP), priced from $0.12 for orders over 1,000 pieces.