Peregrine Semiconductor Predicts UTSi CMOS Will be the Predominant Semiconductor Technology for Wireless Communications.

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 20, 1998--As Peregrine Semiconductor prepares to introduce the world's first 1.9 GHz CMOS IC that successfully integrates the RF receiver chain in a single mass producible chip, President and CEO Ron Reedy today told attendees of the Dataquest Semiconductor '98 Conference that Peregrine's Silicon-on-Sapphire (SOS) UTSi CMOS manufacturing process is the technology that will produce the next generation of mass market, single chip based wireless communications products by the year 2001.

"Our downconverter capability together with our design-winning PE3282A, PE3291 and PE3292 PLLs, proves that the UTSi CMOS process is the only way wireless communications products and satellite manufacturers are going to address their full growth potential," Reedy said today. "With the development of the downconverter product line, UTSi CMOS addresses the issues of transceiver size, power and cost by addressing the larger technical challenge of successful RF component integration in a design that can be mass produced at a competitive cost."

According to Reedy, "The RF and satellite markets now stand at a critically important crossroads. The consumer is demanding fewer dropped calls and lower service costs, which is increasing the need for higher performance CDMA and W-CDMA systems, which in turn leads to higher cost phones. Moore's Law will continually drive down the cost and power in the digital components, but this won't eliminate the problem in the RF section.

"The real issues are in the area of true RF integration," Reedy asserted. "In RF, the complexity trend is up, up, up. We estimate that by the year 2001, over 80% of component insertions will be in the RF section of the handset, not in the digital section. We're in trouble as an industry unless we can agree on a way to provide manufacturers with a low cost RF IC technology that delivers higher performing, less power hungry transistors on a true insulating substrate."

The Substrate is the Issue:

According to Reedy, Peregrine's SOS process delivers in all areas. "It uses a standard CMOS manufacturing process, maintains extremely high linearity for CDMA applications and excellent RF passive integration. True RF integration means the successful combination of RF, digital and mixed signal elements, which other technologies such as bulk CMOS, BiCMOS or Silicon Germanium can not achieve. These are bulk technologies containing inherent flaws that cause them to absorb, attenuate or distort RF functions, interfering with performance and increasing energy absorption. High performance, highly integrated RF ICs simply won't work with these technologies. What's more, GaAs technology is incapable of integrating mixed signals and logic functions and offers no long-term road map for mass production and cost reduction."

RF and Low Power - Peregrine's Advantage:

UTSi CMOS offers low power performance on the order of five times better than that delivered by SiGe, which uses bipolar transistors. CMOS transistors provide a significant advantage to low power circuits through ultra low voltage operation. Bipolar transistors (both Si and SiGe versions) do not have this quality and typically require more than 2. V for RF performance. "Peregrine's technology is already producing a complex RF product that has 1.0 V RF operation, and can operate at 0.8 V and below," Reedy emphasized.

Passive Integration - Another Peregrine Advantage:

UTSi CMOS also provides true RF integration by combining near ideal passive devices with low power active devices. " Typical RF sections require more than a dozen active devices and hundreds of passive devices," Reedy explained. "Integrating them is essential for true RF market growth."

Superior Performance Value - The Final Peregrine Advantage:

Because UTSi CMOS reduces the cost of RF integration, it means fewer mask steps, shorter design cycles and smaller product size, while offering the added cost advantage of being bulk CMOS manufacturing compatible. "And finally," concluded Reedy, "Other process technologies, like SiGe, use many more process steps, incurring greater manufacturing cost and reducing total yield. UTSi CMOS has the distinct advantage of simplifying the manufacturing process, thereby reducing the cost to manufacture the end circuit, thus increasing total yield - and yield is what this business is ultimately all about."

Headquartered in San Diego, California, Peregrine Semiconductor Corporation designs and markets high performance integrated circuits based on its patented UTSi CMOS technology. Offering benefits in integration, speed, power consumption and cost, Peregrine's leading edge products are designed for the wireless communications and commercial satellite markets. The company's high-yield UTSi process offers communications manufacturers and system designers the performance required for digital phones with the integration capability, simplicity and flexibility of conventional CMOS.

For more information, please contact Peregrine Semiconductor Corporation at [phone], fax [phone] or visit the Web site at http://www.peregrine-semi.com. Contact: Jon Siann, director of marketing, [e-mail].