NEC Announces World's First 5GHz SiGe Transistor for Wireless LAN and Mobile Communications

- Offering the world's top-level low-noise/high-gain features -

"SiGe Transistor"

NEC Compound Semiconductor Devices, Ltd., today announced the release of a new lineup of silicon germanium transistors (SiGeHBT^Note1) ideal for high-frequency amplifier applications used in wireless communications equipment including wireless LAN and mobile communications. Sample shipments will begin immediately.

The new lineup was developed using the company's original SiGeHBT semiconductor process technology to produce the world's top-level high-breakdown-voltage, low-noise and high-gain features. The lineup includes the 5GHz silicon germanium transistor, a world-first product that is ideally suited for use in wireless LAN and offers considerable cost advantages over the currently used high-frequency gallium arsenide transistors (GaAs) due to the abundance of the raw material silicon. In addition, the lineup's breakdown voltage between collector and emitter, the element that controls the operating voltage, has been improved 1.5 times over the company's current products to 5V. This has substantially widened the application range and allowed customers much greater freedom with their circuit designs. To further accommodate customer's design needs, the lineup offers both a low-noise/high-gain type and middle-output type SiGeHBT transistor.

Sample pricing

Product code	Features	Sample price (JPY/Unit)
NESG2021M05	low-noise, high-gain, low voltage	30 JPY
NESG2031M05	low-noise, high-gain	30 JPY
NESG2101M05	middle output, low distortion	50 JPY

Availability
Volume production is scheduled for September 2002 at an initial production capacity of 1 million units per month, increasing to 10 million units per month by March 2003.

Recent trends in the use of broadband are prompting serious growth in the wireless device market. Interest in these devices has always been high in the mobile multimedia market, particularly Internet connection devices that use wireless LAN in a mobile environment. And recently, as users have become attracted to the simplicity of the wireless concept, its popularity has spread to new areas such as the home and business. The resulting increase in the amount of information being transmitted has seen the frequency band used in these applications expand rapidly from 2GHz to 5GHz. While this shift has in turn raised the performance level for silicon devices used at these high frequencies, the attempts to improve the high-frequency performance have often resulted in a lower breakdown voltage.
In developing these new products, the company has overcome this problem by employing a technology based on its original UHS2 SiGe self-alignment process^Note2 that reduces the parasitic resistance and capacitance^Note3 and controls the breakdown voltage through selective epitaxial base growth^Note4 optimization. In this way, the breakdown voltage can be raised while allowing a much wider operating frequency range.

Please refer to the attachment for the major specifications of the new lineup.

• Major Specifications of NESG Series

Notes:

About NEC Corporation

NEC Corporation (NASDAQ: NIPNY) is a leading provider of Internet solutions, dedicated to meeting the specialized needs of its customers in the key computer network and electron device fields through its three market-focused in-house companies: NEC Solutions, NEC Networks and NEC Electron Devices. NEC Corporation, with its in-house companies, employs more than 140,000 people worldwide and saw net sales of approximately $39 billion in fiscal year 2001-2002. For further information, visit the NEC home page at http://www.nec.com/.