RF blocks for 6 MHz to 5.8 GHz designs.
Current RF publishes five RF IP blocks: two low-noise amplifiers, an on-chip super inductor, a power amplifier and a wideband CMOS rectifier. Each has a datasheet. Every figure here is the company's own.
- CC-201IP gain, noise
- approx 30 dB, 1.3 nV/rtHz
- CC-201IP and CC-202IP datasheet
- CC-202IP gain, noise
- approx 70 dB, 8 nV/rtHz
- CC-201IP and CC-202IP datasheet
- CC-204IP band
- 6 MHz to 5.8 GHz
- CC-204IP datasheet
- CC-205IP efficiency
- 40% to 90%
- CC-205IP datasheet
CC-201IP and CC-202IP ultra-low-noise amplifiers
The CC-201IP is a single-cell amplifier IP block. Current RF reports approximately 30 dB of gain while contributing 1.3 nV per root hertz (rms) of circuit noise. The CC-202IP builds on the same cell. The company reports gain near 70 dB, with total cumulative noise rising to 8 nV per root hertz.
Both are described as adjustable in bandwidth. The product text gives an operating range of 6 MHz to 5.8 GHz. The noise figures are the reason to look: an ultra-low-noise front end matters most where the signal is small and the supply is noisy. Pair it with the on-chip supply work in integrated circuits, where Current RF reports lower digital dynamic current.
- CC-201IP gain
- approx 30 dB
- Company-reported
- CC-201IP noise
- 1.3 nV/rtHz
- Company-reported, rms
- CC-202IP gain
- approx 70 dB
- Company-reported, composite
- CC-202IP noise
- 8 nV/rtHz
- Company-reported, rms
- Band
- 6 MHz to 5.8 GHz
- Product text, adjustable
CC-203IP super inductor and CC-204IP power amplifier
On-chip inductors usually lose on quality factor. The CC-203IP is an on-chip, ultra-high-Q inductor that can be built in a planar or stacked-die configuration on any given process. Current RF says its on-die techniques lift Q from a 20% to over 100% range compared with typical on-chip inductors, and that the result competes with the Q of off-chip, wire-wound parts. That is a company claim; the datasheet is the place to check it.
The CC-204IP is a 6 MHz to 5.8 GHz power amplifier. It can be a single stage or several paralleled stages, depending on the output drive power and noise figure you need. The basic cell is 300 um by 400 um, and can be smaller depending on antenna impedance and center frequency.
- CC-203IP Q
- 20% to over 100%
- Improvement vs typical on-chip, per Current RF
- CC-203IP build
- Planar or stacked die
- CC-203IP datasheet
- CC-204IP band
- 6 MHz to 5.8 GHz
- CC-204IP datasheet
- CC-204IP basic cell
- 300 um x 400 um
- CC-204IP datasheet
CC-205IP wideband CMOS rectifier
The CC-205IP is a CMOS full-wave rectifier. Current RF reports it can rectify input power from -18 dBm to over +33 dBm across 6 MHz to 5.8 GHz while holding 40% to 90% conversion efficiency. The input range spans weak received signals to high-power sources.
Its antenna matching is adjustable, so the rectifier can interface directly to a given antenna impedance. That avoids the conversion losses of a matching network between antenna and rectifier. Ask for the datasheet if you are sizing it for a specific antenna.
- Frequency range
- 6 MHz to 5.8 GHz
- CC-205IP datasheet
- Input power
- -18 dBm to over +33 dBm
- CC-205IP datasheet
- Conversion efficiency
- 40% to 90%
- CC-205IP datasheet
- S11
- -40 dB
- Company-reported
On-chip RF reduction, and where Current RF started
The CC-100IP-RF goes the other way. Rather than make RF, it reduces it. It is an on-chip RF and EMI reduction block for IC power grids, and Current RF reports up to a 600X improvement in reservoir capacitance per its datasheet. The same block is part of the cyber security story, which Current RF ties to on-chip cybersecurity.
RF is where the company began. Michael Hopkins founded Current RF in 2003 on the premise that current-mode signal processing is spectrally cleaner and burns less power than voltage mode. The first products were a DAC upconversion technique, the RFDAC, and a spinoff, the Current Re-use Mixer. The datasheets below, plus the full list on the datasheets page, cover the parts above.