Hantianxia launches high-performance B1+B3 quadplexer, laying the foundation for local RF front-end modularization
After entering 2022, the global consumer electronics market continues to be sluggish, and the market space has further shrunk. The local RF front-end industry is deeply trapped in the competition of low-end involution, and the need to advance to the modular and high-end market is becoming increasingly urgent. As local RF manufacturers make breakthroughs in high-performance filters and duplexers/multiplexers, the dawn of a breakthrough is becoming clearer.
As a local RF manufacturer that has been deeply involved in the filter field for more than ten years, Hantianxia recently officially launched its independently developed B1+B3 quadplexer HSQP1213, opening up a new situation for the localization of RF front-end. This product is built with four BAW filters integrated, and both the isolation level between the transmit and receive channels and the cross isolation between the B1 and B3 frequency bands have reached the industry's first-line level. In addition, its insertion loss performance is comparable to the international first-line level, and its high sensitivity performance perfectly adapts to industry needs.
The launch of this quad-switcher HSQP1213 not only represents a solid step forward for Hantianxia in R&D and market expansion, but also provides strong support for domestic RF manufacturers to advance towards high-end and modularization.
With the rapid popularization of 5G, the number of frequency bands required for daily communications has increased significantly. In order to give full play to the synergy advantages between frequency bands, carrier aggregation has become a key way to achieve 5G speed improvement.
After the carrier aggregation method is widely adopted, the demand for multiplexing devices in the radio frequency front-end has been greatly released. In the RF front-end, each multiplexer is usually composed of multiple filters of different frequencies. It needs to be equipped with a steeper passband edge roll-off, deeper and more mutual suppression between frequency bands, which not only provides RF manufacturers with more The vast market opportunities also bring great challenges in product research and development.
In smart phone terminals, the B1+B3 frequency band is one of the most commonly used carrier aggregation combinations, and the B1+B3 quadplexer is its core networking component.
Globally, there are 25 operators using B1 and B3 bands on a large scale, including mainland China, Australia, some European countries, and the Arab region, covering an extremely large number of users. Compared with the commonly used bands n41, n77, and n79, the B1 and B3 bands have a wider network coverage and are rare high-quality bands.
In order to ensure good communication capabilities, in some mid-to-high-end smartphones, operators clearly require the use of B1+B3 quadplexers in the protocol standards. In terms of RF front-end solution configuration, the quadplexer can not only be used directly in mid-to-high-end discrete solutions for smartphones, but can also lay a solid foundation for local RF manufacturers’ future L-PAMiD module development.
Since the BAW filter itself has the characteristics of low insertion loss, high suppression and low temperature drift coefficient, the performance of this quadplexer HSQP1213 product, which is integrated with four BAW filters, is very good. After comprehensive testing, the insertion loss is around 2dB , as shown in Figure 1. In addition, both the isolation of B1 and B3 and the cross-isolation between the two can be maintained at 60dB . As shown in Figure 2, the impact of the transmitting path on the receiving path is minimized, and the signal transmitting and receiving sensitivity reaches an excellent level. .
Figure 1: The insertion loss of the quadplexer HSQP1213 in all passbands is around 2.0dB
Figure 2: The isolation of the quadplexer HSQP1213 reaches 60dB
At present, in high-end smartphones, modular solutions have become the mainstream, and quadplexers have become essential components. For a long time, due to the high complexity of design simulation, quadplexers were once monopolized by a few top international RF device suppliers. Today, the high-performance quadplexer HSQP1213 successfully launched by Handianxia has reached the first-line level in overall performance, which is of great significance to the domestic independence of RF front-end.
In recent years, with the continuous improvement of the modularization of RF front-end, the pressure on local RF manufacturers to move towards the high-end market has been increasing. In the breakthrough of RF front-end modularization, the most critical shortcoming is the lack of high-performance and high-quality filter resources. Whether for diversity receiving modules or main receiving modules, filters are the most core and difficult components in high-end modules.
Compared with the research and development of PA products, there is no mature foundry industry chain available for filters. Therefore, filter manufacturers not only need to work hard on design, but also must consider both process and model. For bulk acoustic wave filters, continuous iteration between design, process and physical model is required to achieve the expected performance indicators.
Compared with SAW filters, BAW filters have higher stability, higher Q value, lower insertion loss and high power resistance, and can play an important role in the medium and high frequency communication market. From the application level, BAW filters based on MEMS technology have stronger performance advantages and are suitable for demanding 4G applications (including carrier aggregation and VoLTE, etc.), and even 5G Sub-6GHz applications with higher frequencies.
For a single filter, the most critical indicators are in-band insertion loss, out-of-band suppression, etc. On this basis, the quadplexer needs to face many more complex problems, the core of which is the interference problem, including the isolation between the transmit and receive paths in the same frequency band, as well as the cross-isolation between different frequency bands.
According to Hantianxia CTO Lai Zhiguo, in the R&D and design of filters, the resonator is the core basic unit structure, and its quality factors directly determine the overall performance of the filter chip. In addition, because the quadplexer integrates four filters, it faces great challenges in simulation and optimization. The computer's memory and CPU consumption increases significantly, and its complexity is often more than ten times that of a single filter. In the process of design adjustment, it is usually necessary to deal with the simultaneous optimization of dozens of parameters.
In order to successfully build this quadruplexer, Hantianxia made a lot of investment in the early stage. On the one hand, Hantianxia made a lot of investment in upgrading the process platform, which greatly improved the performance of the resonator, and significantly improved the Q value and electromechanical coupling coefficient. On the other hand, Hantianxia iteratively upgraded the simulation design platform to ensure efficient and high-precision simulation results. In addition, in order to better adapt to the coupling relationship of different devices, Hantianxia made a lot of careful design and adjustment on the layout to ensure that the circuit design results are as close as possible to the layout design results.
Due to the high R&D barriers, there are not many local manufacturers involved in the BAW filter field. After more than ten years of technology and experience accumulation, Hantianxia has become one of the first companies in China to fully master the mass production technology of BAW filters. As of the end of 2021, Hantianxia has shipped nearly 200 million chips in total, making it one of the largest RF filter chip manufacturers in China.
As one of the few RF IDM manufacturers in China, Yin Yimin, COO of Hantianxia, said that one of Hantianxia's core advantages lies in its own wafer fab , which enables it to achieve a high degree of collaboration and mutual promotion in R&D, design, technology, and models. , has brought great benefits to product research and development, including faster research and development progress, more timely mass production progress and more efficient product iteration.
In high-end mobile phone intelligent solutions, the coexistence of RF devices is a basic requirement, and quadplexers are essential products. Li Hongbo, product application director of Handianxia, said that the launch of the quadplexer HSQP1213 by Handianxia is a breakthrough from 0 to 1. At present, the company's active team is developing PA modules. According to the actual needs of customers for mid-to-high-end products and the market demand for L-PAMiD in China, Handianxia will develop more products that meet the needs.
In terms of long-term development, Hantianxia's goal is to become a highly competitive and influential RF chip supplier in China. In recent years, the company has continuously strengthened the construction of its active chip team. The team members mainly come from the world's top radio frequency chip companies. The design and production of a variety of PA products have been widely used in mainstream smartphones such as iPhone and Galaxy. Since then, Hantianxia's product line has completely covered the two core modules of RF front-end passive (represented by filters) and active (represented by PA). The product series has moved from filters to more complex high-end modules, striving to Become a full range of RF front-end chip suppliers.
From the perspective of industrial development path, local RF chip manufacturers basically start from relatively mature discrete RF chips, seize the window period of 5G development, gradually realize the import substitution of RF front-end for mid-to-low-end models, and at the same time accumulate module capabilities. Gradually move towards full-category supply of RF front-end. In the process of the RF front-end advancing to high-end and modularization, domestic RF manufacturers represented by Han Tianxia have the courage to break foreign monopoly, solve the problem of RF "stuck neck", and inject strong momentum into the autonomy of RF front-end.
▼ Highlights from previous issues ▼
Tao Zhen, CEO of Hantianxia: The modular evolution of RF front-end chip companies
Domestic RF chips are heading to the next battlefield, and Hantianxia is ready to go
The United States announced two new measures to expand restrictions on Chinese chips