Nujira says chip marks 'significant milestone' for smartphone sector

As part of its Coolteq.L range, Nujria says its NCT-L1100 IC reduces wasted energy from power amplifiers in mobile handsets by more than 50%, cuts heat dissipation and extends battery life. Tim Haynes, Nujira's ceo, says the IC has been developed to address the challenges of reducing power consumption of 3G and 4G power amplifers as demand for higher data rates continue to drive network standards. "Battery life has always been a key factor for consumers when it comes to mobile handsets, and it is a regular complaint from users of the latest smartphones," said Haynes. "4G handsets may need to be charged two or three times a day, which will have a catastrophic impact on user adoption. The industry consensus is that envelope tracking will become the standard power amplifier architecture for the next generation of handsets because it is the only power optimisation technology which delivers high efficiency over the entire spectrum used for 3G and 4G standards. As a result we see the launch of our first commercial chip for mobile handsets as a significant milestone, not just for Nujira, but for the mobile handset sector." The NCT-L1100 demonstrates power conversion efficiencies in excess of 80% and supports the maximum 20MHz channel bandwidth of LTE - the best available on the market today, according to Nujira. The chip is compatible with multiple air interface standards, including TDD and FDD LTE and the company's ISOGAIN linearisation technology is said to deliver improved ACLR and EVM performance, eliminating antenna load mismatch and providing additional output power from the PA. It features the industry standard OpenET analogue envelope interface and a MIPI RFFE control interface. The device is sampling now to lead partners with general availability in Q4 2012.