NXP Semiconductors has announced a family of top-side cooled radio frequency (RF) amplifier modules, based on a packaging design intended to enable thinner and lighter radios for 5G infrastructure. These smaller base stations can be more easily and cost-effectively installed, NXP reports, and they blend more discretely into their environment. NXP’s GaN multi-chip module series, combined with a top-side cooling solution for RF power, reduces the thickness and weight of the radios by more than 20 percent, while lowering the carbon footprint for the manufacture and deployment of 5G base stations.
“Top-side cooling represents a significant opportunity for the wireless infrastructure industry, combining high-power capabilities with advanced thermal performance to enable a smaller RF subsystem,” said Pierre Piel, NXP’s VP and general manager for radio power, in a prepared statement. “This innovation delivers a solution for the deployment of more environmentally friendly base stations, while enabling the network density needed to realize the full performance benefits of 5G.”
The new top-side cooled devices are designed to provide design and manufacturing benefits, NXP reports, including the removal of dedicated RF shields, the use of a cost-effective and streamlined printed circuit board, and the separation of thermal management from RF design. These features, according to the company, enable networking solution providers to create slimmer, lighter 5G radios for mobile network operators, while reducing their overall design cycle.
NXP’s first top-side cooled RF power module series is designed for 32T32R, 200-watt radios covering 3.3 to 3.8 GHz. The devices combine the company’s in-house LDMOS and GaN semiconductor technologies to enable high gain and efficiency with wideband performance, NXP indicates, and to offer 31 dB gain and 46 percent efficiency over 400 MHz of instantaneous bandwidth. The firm’s A5M34TG140-TC, A5M35TG140-TC and A5M36TG140-TC products are now available, and the A5M36TG140-TC will be supported by NXP’s RapidRF reference board series.