Infineon Touts First UWB Transceiver

MUNICH, Germany — Infineon Technologies AG has finalized the tapeout of a dual-band ultrawideband (UWB) transceiver that it claims will beef up mobile devices for broadband communications.

Infineon's low power CMOS RF chip, which it claims is the industry first, is also said to exceed current standards, transmitting in both 3-5 GHZ and 6"9 GHz, according to WiMedia frequency allocations.

"When the standard is ready, we will support it in our production from day one," an Infineon spokesperson said.

UWB is a key technology for real-time distribution of multimedia content over short distances. Infineon said it is also looking beyond that application, noting that its power-saving UWB transceiver is optimized for mobile applications like wireless handsets. Thus, it could be used in multimedia smartphones with high-resolution displays that also support audio and video streaming.

Infineon said its transceiver chip is designed both for mobile devices and for a range of applications that support both WiMedia frequency ranges. Device designers could program the new chip according to the frequency plans in targeted markets, Infineon said.The transceiver uses Infineon's 90-nm CMOS technology. The design is intended as a first step toward a single-chip UWB product, Infineon said. The UWB transceiver will likely be incorporated into future 3G platforms.

Infineon also said it intends to offer a WiMedia-compliant UWB chip, including MAC, PHY and RF, by mid-2007.