Optimizing Technology Choices for Handsets

Summary form only given. The mobile handset is arguably the most significant consumer device driving the use of compound semiconductors and other technologies. We estimate that in this year alone over two billion square millimeters of GaAs will be shipped into mobile handsets. There is no question that the dominant technology for implementing power amplifiers for GSM, GPRS, EDGE, CDMA, WCDMA, HSPA and WiFi is now GaAs and InGaP/GaAs. Switches using GaAs pHEMT, as well as GaAs low noise amplifiers also see significant use in the handset. CMOS is becoming the technology of choice for the bulk of the other cellular handset functions such as direct conversion receivers, modulators, synthesizers, VCOs, PA regulators, DC-DC converters, as well as the digital baseband and applications processors. MEMS is becoming attractive for future use in switches and filters as it offers the benefits of lower insertion loss and ease of integration. This presentation addresses the various technologies used today inside mobile handsets. Further, integration options are presented that will lead to the optimum combination of existing and future technologies needed to meet the ever-growing demands for cheaper, smaller and more reliable handsets