Infineon Designs Dual-Band, Single-Chip UWB System

German chip maker Infineon Technologies has designed a core transceiver for a new generation of system-on-chip semiconductors that will allow consumer electronic devices, such as mobile phones and PCs, to send or receive data at high speeds over the airwaves, the company said Wednesday.

The dual-band ultra-wideband (UWB) radio frequency transceiver is based on a low-power complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) process, Infineon said. It supports both the 3GHz-to-5GHz frequency band and above the 6GHz band up to 9GHz, as defined by the WiMedia Alliance, an industry consortium.

Infineon will produce the single-chip UWB transceiver using the 90-nanometer CMOS manufacturing process, which enables compact, low-power designs ideal for mobile handset applications, the company said. The nanometer measurement refers to the smallest circuit features etched into the chip.

The tranceiver will support data transmission speeds up to 480Mbps. It is well suited for both Certified Wireless USB and Bluetooth-over-WiMedia UWB systems, according to Infineon.

“Today, you need a cable if you’re going to download a huge file, such as a video clip, to your mobile phone,” said Infineon spokesman Reiner Schonrock. “With the single-chip UWB device, you won’t need cables anymore.”

Infineon expects to have the devices ready to ship by mid-2007.

-John Blau, IDG News Service (Dusseldorf Bureau)

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