Silicon Wave Inc. announced it is developing a Radio Modem Control integrated circuit for
Bluetooth applications, using an advanced silicon-on-insulator technology known as BiCMOS.
Silicon Wave hopes
to combine Bluetooth radio, modem and controller functions into a single RMC chip using direct conversion and fully
integrated synthesizers. The chip then would communicate with another microcontroller or microprocessor to complete
a Bluetooth connection.
The company was formed especially to take advantage of the BiCMOS process, which
basically is an insulating layer separating circuit devices from the solid silicon substrate. Also, what’s called a trench
isolation structure acts as a barrier between circuit elements. Together, these features allow more components to be
placed on a single chip, resulting in a smaller chip, explained Silicon Wave.
The company also said the chip uses
less power, because the microcontroller does not activate until an intact data packet intended for the host is
received.
“Bluetooth will expand communications capabilities for notebooks (personal computers), personal
digital assistants, cellular phones and other mobile devices, both in and out of the office,” said Dr. David Lyon,
Silicon Wave chairman, president and chief executive officer. “We call this concept ‘effortless connectivity’ and
are proud to be a part of the broad industry initiative turning it into a deliverable standard.”
Silicon Wave
joined the Bluetooth special interest group in October. The privately held company had not been promoting itself much
since forming in 1997. At the time, the company was unsure of the exact results the BiCMOS process would have on
chips for RF applications. Since then, Silicon Wave has completed and tested a prototype that allows the company to
better understand its exact capabilities.
“We understand now what we have to bring into the market to be
successful,” said Skip Powers, director of corporate development at Silicon Wave.
He said the company’s next
area of concern will be making similar chips to meet third-generation standards, in particular, wideband Code Division
Multiple Access.
