CTIA: Silicon Wave debuts Bluetooth radio IC

By David Lammers
iApplianceWeb
(03/19/03, 09:40:04 PM EDT)

AUSTIN,Texas - Silicon Wave introduced a single-chip Bluetooth radio IC at the CTIA Wireless 2003 conference in New Orleans.

The "UltimateBlue 3000" radio processor is sampling now, and moves into volume production next quarter at a cost low enough to support a total $4 tag for the bill of materials needed to build a Bluetooth module, said Jarvis Tou, vice president of marketing at Silicon Wave (San Diego, Calif.).

The device is optimized for use in wireless handsets. For PC applications, it supports Silicon Wave's Wi-Fi coexistence solutions, and the Intel wireless coexistence system.

The chip is built on a direct conversion radio architecture in a low-cost 0.18-micron CMOS process. The architecture exceeds the Bluetooth specifications, providing "additional headroom that simplifies PCB design, and reduces the cost of tuning the radio during volume production," he said.

Silicon Wave claims the design will result in no "touches" during manufacturing, eliminating tuning and alignments during product assembly.

The single-ended RF I/O eliminates external balun and switch circuits, providing glueless connection to the antenna.

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