Transceiver Chip Set Wrings Out GSM Phone Costs

摘要

Designing a low-cost multiband cell phone just got easier. Silicon Laboratories' Aero chip set provides a complete two- or three-band GSM transceiver using only a few external components. This three-chip set includes the Si4200 transceiver IC, the Si4201 baseband interface, and the Si4133T synthesizer IC. Silicon Labs' claim to fame is a 100% CMOS highly integrated chip set that significantly reduces the number of discrete components needed while lowering costs and greatly minimizing the number of manufacturing steps. Furthermore, the resulting circuits take up less board space and use less power.