Source: Huaqiang Microelectronics Author: Joey
RF chip, which needs to process high-frequency RF signal, belongs to the high threshold and high technical difficulty link in analog chip, so it has been known as “the pearl on the crown of analog chip”.
Recently, the reporter from the column of “Walking into the Industrial Chain” of Core Bugs interviewed Wang Weigang, the sales director of Geocore Technology, a cutting-edge RF front-end enterprise of China Nei, to discuss the current development of Geocore Technology enterprises and their prospects for the future development of the industry in the context of accelerated domestic substitution of RF chips.
Three major product lines have been launched in the short term, of which the performance of analog signal chain products can match the level of the world’s top manufacturers such as TI/ADI
It is understood that Geocore Technology, founded in 2018, is an emerging high-end analog RF chip supplier. In recent years, the company’s development momentum has become more and more impressive. Its products have been widely used in 5G wireless communications, Internet of Things, industrial electronics and other fields, and have been highly recognized by well-known customers such as Haikang, Dahua, Leada, Baicaibang, etc.
“Although Geocore Technology has been established for a short time, it has developed rapidly. Up to now, we have formed three major product series, mainly including RF front-end chips, RF transceiver chips and analog signal chain chips. RF front-end is mainly used in the Internet of Things, analog signal chain is mainly used in industrial electronics, and RF transceiver chips are our important layout in the field of communication base stations.” Wang Weigang introduced.
In terms of analog signal chain, Geocore Technology currently has three series of products, including high-speed Pipeline ADC, high-precision SAR ADC, and high-precision voltage reference source. Among them, high-speed Pipeline ADC can cover 10 to 14 bit sampling accuracy and 10M to 1G sampling rate; High precision SAR ADC supports 10 to 16 bit sampling precision and 100K to 1M sampling rate; The whole series of high-precision voltage reference products adopt the reference source packaging, which has the technical characteristics of low noise, low temperature drift, high initial accuracy, etc.
Taking the high-speed Pipeline ADC series GAD2245 products as an example, the chip supports 14 bit sampling accuracy, 10M sampling rate and extremely low power consumption, which can well support the highly sensitive acquisition of photoelectric conversion signals. At the same time, thanks to its high linearity, GAD2245 can provide superior low-level input signal performance within the industrial temperature range. At present, the product can be widely used in high frequency and wide dynamic range signal fields such as infrared thermal imaging, ultrasonic spectrum analysis, portable instruments, photoelectric signal acquisition, wireless and wired broadband communication.
“Our pipeline series innovative products with a sampling rate of more than 250M have broken the international monopoly, and the product performance is leading in the industry. The 14 bit/125M sampling rate pipeline product technology also leads domestic friends, and its performance can match the level of the world’s top manufacturers; while the SAR ADC series products have the characteristics of good compatibility and ultra-low power consumption, among which the power consumption of the 16Bit/100Ksps product series can be as low as 1.8 mW/ch, while the mature product series can be compatible with TI and ADI competitors, On this basis, the design process is simplified, and there is no need to change the hardware design and PCB layout for alternative design. ” Wang Weigang said, “The project started last year, and has achieved small batch shipment of multiple series of chips this year. At present, customer feedback is good, and it is expected to further expand on this basis next year, which will bring us considerable income.”
The annual shipment of IoT RF front-end has reached tens of millions of pieces, and the RF transceiver chip has filled the gap in the domestic market.
The development of wireless communication can not be separated from the evolution of RF front-end, and the transformation of RF front-end always follows the evolution of wireless communication. With the development of cellular mobile communication technology from 2G to the current 5G era, the mobile network speed is getting faster and faster, so the requirements for RF front-end chips are getting higher and higher.
In terms of RF front-end chips, Geocore Technology, based on low-power silicon based CMOS technology, has developed two series of low-power, high-performance products, FEM and PA, which can be widely used in Bluetooth, Zigbee, WiFi, NB-IOT, WiSUN, LoRa and other various IOT application scenarios. At present, the annual shipment volume of downstream customers, such as Green Rice, Anjubao, Shunzhou Technology, Feibi, Fast Living Technology, and Lida, has reached the order of tens of millions of chips, It is in the forefront of sales of similar products in the market.
Taking GC1101 as an example, this chip is a single chip device implemented by CMOS technology. It integrates radio frequency power amplifier (PA), low noise amplifier (LNA) and chip transceiver switch control circuit. It is a fully integrated RF front-end single chip for IEEE 802.15.4/Zigbee, Bluetooth wireless sensor network and other 2.4 GHz ISM band wireless systems.
Wang Weigang pointed out: “The saturation power of GC1101 can reach 22.5dBm, the current is only 97mA when the output power is 20dBm, and the noise figure NF is only 2.9dB. The special architecture design makes the ESD performance as high as 8KV, much higher than that of similar products in the market. In addition to the above advantages of high performance, low power consumption and low noise, the chip also uses QFN-16 (3 x 3 x 0.75 mm) Encapsulated, compatible with the RFX2401C products of Skyworks in the market, and has obvious cost advantages. At present, this product has been widely used in industrial control automation, smart home and RF system conforming to RF4CE protocol, becoming the main product and main revenue source of the company at the current stage. “
Post time: Nov-29-2022