Agilent Technologies Inc. has announced its 100th design win for its leading-edge miniature film bulk acoustic resonator (FBAR) duplexer and full-band transmit filter. According to Agilent, these breakthrough devices are designed into nine of the top 10 code-division, multiple-access (CDMA) phone manufacturers' handsets for the U.S. PCS market. Duplexers play a critical role in CDMA handsets and data cards. They separate incoming communications from outgoing communications to allow for simultaneous, two-way voice or data transmission. In a CDMA handset, the full-band transmit filter is incorporated between the driver amplifier and the power amplifier to reduce noise in the receive band, thereby enhancing receiver sensitivity.

"The tremendous acceptance of our FBAR filter components has fueled a new generation of thinner, smaller CDMA flip phones," said Bryan Ingram, vice president and general manager of the Wireless Semiconductor Division in Agilent's Semiconductor Products Group. "The significant size and performance advantage has made these components an industry standard with more than 80 percent share of the U.S. PCS handset market. Agilent has also integrated the duplexer with its E-pHEMT power amplifiers and detectors to create miniature RF front-end modules, enabling manufacturers to further increase battery life and offer more features."

Agilent continues to exploit its FBAR technology by further reducing the size and increasing the performance of its second-generation duplexers and transmit filters. The Agilent ACMD-7401 is the industry's smallest FBAR duplexer, claims the developer. Built with Agilent's innovative Microcap bonded-wafer, chip-scale packaging, it is less than one-tenth the volume of competing ceramic devices (1.4 mm high with a 5.0 mm x 5.0 mm footprint).

The Agilent ACPF-7002 is a miniature full-band transmit filter (1.0 mm high with a 1.6 mm x 2.0 mm footprint). It eliminates the need for a second filter, an RF switch and associated passive components. This reduces the printed circuit board area required for the transmit filter by up to 90 percent, while lowering manufacturing costs and eliminating the need for interface design and programming.

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