Of course, this worldwide infatuation with cellular telephony has created a near frenzy among semiconductor makers who want their RF silicon in some of the 160 million or more cell phones to go out this year, said Dataquest.

The cell-phone makers are not optimistic about achieving a single-chip phone-or even a single-chip RF front end, Nokia's Fazal Ali,manager for RF engineering, said in June.

That hasn't stopped semiconductor makers such as TI, National Semiconductor and even Maxim Integrated Products from pushing on BiCMOS technology, hoping to come up with an integrated RF front end for cell phones.

On Semiconductor, formerly Motorola's Semiconductor Components Group, and Conexant expressed optimism about integrating RF transceivers for ancillary devices like cordless phones, wireless home networks (using the HomeRF spec) and Bluetooth.

Conferences have become a way for manufacturers to stake a claim to a market. I'll chair daylong talks this week on Bluetooth and wireless networks at the IBC Personal and Local Wireless Network Solutions Conference (www.ibcusa.com/USC/2395/). Speakers include John Web of Intel, Chuck Napier of Convergence and Skip Powers of Silicon Wave. Each will offer thoughts on how Bluetooth can be commercialized-not just to blip files between cell phones and portable computers, but as the foundation for ad hoc wireless networks between several portable PCs. Johnny Johansson of Ericsson, who pushed the first $20 Bluetooth RF module into the market in April, and Nokia's John Ferrari will be there for a panel discussion.

Those issues will surface again at my Analog and Mixed-Signal Conference in October (www.eet.com/analog). In the session on architectural choices for RF and wireless applications, Keng Fong of Philips Semiconductors will compare wireless system architectures to see which have the best chances for single-chip integration. Another cell-phone maker, Eduardo Sztein of NEC America, will offer insights on RF requirements and the design trade-offs he has to make for cellular handsets.