Maxim releases industry's first 802.11 g/b transceiver with integrated PA, antenna diversity switches, and DCXO

Maxim Integrated Products has introduced the MAX2830 single-chip, direct-conversion, low-power 802.11g/b RF transceiver with integrated power amplifier (PA), Rx/Tx/antenna diversity switches, and crystal oscillator circuitry. Maxim reports that it is the industry's first transceiver to integrate Rx/Tx and antenna diversity switches, thus saving 10mm2 of board space and $0.25 of BOM cost versus competing solutions. The MAX2830 is well suited for Wi-Fi, PDA, VoIP, and cellular handset applications.

The MAX2830 integrates digitally controlled, crystal oscillator (DCXO) circuitry to implement the reference oscillator function, thus allowing the use of small, low-cost, low-power crystals.

The MAX2830 is designed using Maxim's proprietary high-performance SiGe BiCMOS process. The transceiver operates from a 2.7V to 3.6V supply, and the PA operates from 2.7V to 4.2V, which allows the MAX2830 to be powered directly from cell phone batteries. The receiver consumes 62mA of current in receive mode, while achieving a noise figure of 3.3dB, thus enabling best-in-class receive sensitivity of -75dBm (64QAM OFDM) without an external LNA. Additionally, the transmitter and PA deliver best-in-class linear transmit power of +17dBm (64QAM OFDM) after the switch. A 20 microamp low-power shutdown mode is available to further save power.

The MAX2830 is available in a, 7mm x 7mm, leadless 48-pin TQFN-EP package. Pricing starts at $5.97 (1000-up, FOB USA). An evaluation kit is available to speed designs.

Click here for more information, or visit www.maxim-ic.com

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