TUCSON, Ariz., 17 July 2008. Peregrine Semiconductor Corp., released a new PE9309 UltraCMOS Prescaler for radiation-hardened (rad-hard) space/satellite, high-performance military and hi-rel commercial infrastructure applications.

Company officials made the announcement at the 2008 IEEE Nuclear and Space Radiation Effects Conference, in Tucson, Ariz., at the JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort.

The new divide-by-four device operates across 3.5  13.0 GHz frequencies. The UltraCMOS device operates in C, X, and Ku Band, showcasing the UltraCMOS power consumption advantage at higher speeds.

"Our new Prescaler delivers a dramatic power consumption improvement over competitive options," says Dale Robinette, Peregrine's marketing director for space, military, and hi-rel products. "By offering a Ku-band solution which is complementary to our existing PLL line, our customers are getting a very comprehensive design solution and a continued commitment to UltraCMOS products for space."

The PE9309 Prescaler consumes a low 16mA of operating current or 41.6 mW of power, replacing higher power competitive Gallium Arsenide devices which typically consume 600 mW. The device features Input Power of 0 to +7 dBm; Output Power of 0 dBm (minimum); and a total dose radiation of 100 Krads (Si). The new Prescaler can be used in conjunction with Peregrine's rad-hard Delta-Sigma modulated fractional-N phase-locked loop (PLL) frequency synthesizer to generate local oscillator frequencies through the Ku-Band.

Peregrine's PE9309 is currently sampling to select customers in die or the tiny hermetically-sealed 8-lead ceramic formed flat pack package, with flight qualified devices available by the end of this year.

UltraCMOS mixed-signal process technology is a proprietary, patented variation of silicon-on insulator (SOI) technology on a sapphire substrate providing high yields and competitive costs, Peregrine officials say. It combines the RF, mixed-signal, and digital capabilities of any other CMOS process, yet is inherently rad-hard making it an ideal process for demanding space applications.

Single event latch-up (SEL) is physically impossible and single event upset (SEU) is better than 10-9 errors per bit per day, offering intrinsic radiation tolerance and total dose radiation testing of 100 Krads (Si), company officials say. Recent advancements on UltraCMOS have enabled significant new product performance in the rad-hard portfolio.