Peregrine RF switch made with silicon-on-sapphire

I enjoy following Peregrine semiconductor since they have these neat process where they put silicon on sapphire. People have been doing this for decade, but Peregrine has managed to get the yields and cost structure that allows them to sell into cell phones. For that market they make RF switches that allow you to switch in inductors or capacitors so that the cell phone antenna looks like a constant impedance, even when you put it up on your face or lay it ion the table. Peregrine also makes products for space satellites, since silicon on sapphire (SOS) is very radiation-hard. Since the substrate is not silicon, radiation blasting through the part does not create free carriers in the substrate and cause latch-up or malfunction in the chip. You have to love a company that makes products for super cost sensitive applications as well as gold-plated and bulletproof satellites.

Peregrine has released a TX RF switch that helps you design the RF signal chain in mult-band cell phones. One of the great achievements they have made is being able to get consistent uniform low-impedances in these products to minimize refection in 50 ohm signal chains. Another cool thing is that sapphire has about 3 times the thermal conductivity of glass dielectric, so you can get the power out of  chips made on this process. From the (edited) Peregrine press release:

• Peregrine Semiconductor Corporation today announced the new PE42662 SP6T (single pole, six throw) RF switch. The PE42662 delivers design flexibility to manufacturers of 3G front-end modules used in multi-band GSM/EDGE/WCDMA handsets. The switch incorporates six fully symmetric transmit ports that allow designers to freely configure any combination of transmit/receive ports for GSM, EDGE and WCDMA.
• The 50-Ohm switch is manufactured on Peregrine’s STeP 3 UltraCMOS process and features HaRP technology enhancements to deliver high linearity and exceptional harmonic performance: 2fo/3fo = -40 dBm @ 35 dBm TX (900 MHz) and 33 dBm TX (1900 MHz).  The PE42662 switch also features an IIP3 of +68 dBm at 50-Ohm; low transmit insertion loss of 0.5 dB at 900 MHz, 0.6dB at 1900MHz; and very high Isolation of 38dB at 900MHz and 33dB at 1900MHz. The switch handles maximum +35 dBm input power with world-class ESD tolerance of 4000V HBM at ANT port, and 2000V HBM on all ports.
• Additional features of the PE42662 switch include an on-chip CMOS decode logic that facilitates three-pin low voltage CMOS control and low-power standby state, as well as on-chip SAW filter over-voltage protection devices. As with all SOS-based UltraCMOS RFICs, no blocking capacitors are required. The PE42662 is available in the highly efficient flip-chip die form in volume today. Pricing is available by contacting Peregrine’s worldwide sales and distribution network.

A final neat thing about silicon-on-sapphire is that the wafers are clear.