Airoha Delivers First 802.11a/b/g Wireless LAN Transceiver with Integrated Power Amplifiers.

HSINCHU, Taiwan & NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. -- Airoha's Highly Integrated WLAN Transceiver Leverages Jazz Semiconductor's SiGe BiCMOS Technology

Airoha Technology Corp. today announced the world's first IEEE 802.11 a/b/g wireless local area network (WLAN) transceiver with embedded dual-band power amplifiers (PA) manufactured using Jazz Semiconductor's 0.35um Silicon Germanium (SiGe) BiCMOS process platform. Airoha's AL7230 is the industry's most integrated single chip transceiver, allowing a reduction of up to 70 percent of Bill of Materials (BOM) cost and 50 percent of Printed Circuit Board (PCB) area when compared with alternative solutions. Through close collaboration with its foundry partner Jazz Semiconductor, Airoha was able to optimize the cost and performance of its highly integrated 802.11a/b/g product.

The AL7230 allows WLAN manufacturers a better alternative to existing 802.11b/g solutions, due to its higher speed over more channels (802.11a which offers 31 non-overlapping channels versus 802.11g which offers 3 non-overlapping channels). The AL7230 solution is offered at a comparable BOM cost, an advantage that could create sufficient commercial momentum to boost the introduction of 802.11 a/g products.

Airoha has been a leader in WLAN integration since it first delivered its 802.11 b/g RF transceiver in 2003 using the Jazz 0.35um SiGe BiCMOS process platform and continues its aggressive roadmap by integrating more functionality with each generation of product. The AL7230 single chip transceiver integrates on-chip components such as the VCO, LNA, Balun, and Loop filter and uses a Zero Intermediate Frequency (ZIF) architecture to eliminate the IF circuitry. The chip also features automatic IQ mismatch calibration that enables Baseband chipset vendors to eliminate complicated IQ adjustment circuitry. In addition, it allows manufacturers to increase their production efficiency by waiving the calibration procedure during the manufacturing test flow.

When compared to alternative solutions, the AL7230 requires approximately 70 fewer discrete components, greatly simplifying the design, shrinking the PCB area and reducing the BOM cost. With a smaller RF area, the AL7230 is well-suited to small form factor applications such as USB cards, CF cards and WLAN modules. The AL7230's embedded PAs are capable of delivering output power of 15 dBm for 802.11a(54Mbps), 17dBm for 802.11g(54Mbps) and 20dBm for 802.11b(11Mbps).

"With the AL7230, customers can now benefit from the extreme quality of 11 a/g at a BOM cost close to that of 11g products," said Michael Lu, president at Airoha. "Jazz Semiconductor's modular processes, design kits, and customer service enabled us to achieve the first pass success of our highly integrated WLAN transceiver. We look forward to continuing this successful relationship and leveraging Jazz Semiconductor's wafer manufacturing to offer competitive cost solutions to our customers."

"Jazz is pleased to partner with companies such as Airoha who continue to aggressively pursue the WLAN roadmap by integrating more functionality," said Paul Kempf, chief technology and marketing officer at Jazz Semiconductor. "This approach is well-aligned with the Jazz strategy of offering process platforms that allow customers to continue to add more functions and features with each product generation."

Airoha has collaborated with customers to field test the product's "throughput versus range" resulting in an achievement of 24Mbps at a distance of 50 meters and a throughput of 15Mbps in transmit and 17Mbps in receive mode at a distance of 500 meters. These test results eliminate traditional misgivings about 802.11a product's limited range due to poor power attenuation.

Outdoor Throughput Test (11a mode)

Distance(M)   50     100    150    200    250    300    400     500
Tx(Mbps)      21.53  21.13  20.50  19.75  18.87  19.00  17.07   14.61
Rx(Mbps)      24.29  23.90  23.51  22.60  20.27  22.45  20.75   16.60

Airoha continues its innovation in the RF space by expanding its portfolio to include a series of transceivers designed specifically for cell phone application and will also introduce low-power 802.11a/b/g devices and 11n devices in 2005, also manufactured at Jazz Semiconductor.

About Airoha

Airoha Technology Corp. is a Taiwan based fabless company that develops highly integrated circuits for wireless communication solutions. Spun-off from BenQ in August 2001, Airoha has the advantage of a built-in customer base, enjoying strong market leadership positions in PC, data communication, cellular, handheld device and WLAN applications. The company is committed to providing high performance, cost-effective and highly integrated RF/mixed signal integrated circuit (IC) solutions, including system level expertise in global system mobile (GSM) and WLAN communications. Product applications include telecommunications and data communications. By integrating proprietary technology processes, the company provides customers with cost effective and high performance solutions. Airoha partners with foundries that are leading radio-frequency semiconductor manufacturers to ensure the best quality products. To learn more about Airoha, please visit www.airoha.com.

About Jazz Semiconductor

Jazz Semiconductor is an independent wafer foundry focused primarily on specialty process technologies for the manufacture of analog and mixed-signal semiconductor devices. Jazz Semiconductor has an over 35-year heritage of developing processes for the manufacture of analog and mixed-signal semiconductors and benefits from the investment of approximately $1 billion in manufacturing assets since 1995. Jazz is a leader in specialty process technologies, particularly in silicon germanium bipolar CMOS, or SiGe BiCMOS. Jazz currently provides cost-effective manufacturing capacity to its customers from its wafer fabrication facility, located in Newport Beach, California. In addition, Jazz has manufacturing partnerships with Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation and Hua Hong NEC Electronics Co., Ltd. Jazz Semiconductor's principal executive offices are located at 4321 Jamboree Road, Newport Beach, California 92660. The Jazz Semiconductor web site is located at www.jazzsemi.com.