A MINIATURE 1-V RF IC CHIP SET FOR PAGER APPLICATIONS

Recent pager systems require to have outstanding characteristics such as low power, low cost and high portability. To satisfy such requireme nts, a 1 V operation IC chip set including an RF amplifier IC and a do wnconverter IC with onboard oscillator, has been developed using 20 GH z Si bipolar process. Each IC is assembled in a surface mount 6-pin pl astic mold package which measures only 2.9 mm x 2.8 mm. The RF amplifi er IC exhibits 20.6 dB of gain and 2.3 dB of noise figure with as low as 0.5 mW (1 V, 0.5 mA) power consumption at 150 MHz. As for the downc onverter IC, a typical gain of 20 dB has also been successfully obtain ed at the same frequency, under almost the same operating conditions, giving total power consumption of only 1 mW (1 V, 1 mA). These ICs are considered to be well-suited to current pager systems requirements an d to allow system design to be greatly simplified.