Zilog® Announces New Single-chip 2.4 GHz RF Transceiver for Wireless ZigBee and IoT Connectivity

LEIDEN, Netherlands and MILPITAS, Calif., March 07, 2017 -- Zilog®, a wholly-owned subsidiary of IXYS Corporation (NASDAQ:IXYS) that specializes in application specific microcontroller (MCU) solutions for the industrial, telecommunication, automotive, and consumer markets, today introduced its RadioPulse MG2420 Transceiver, a single-chip 2.4 GHz RF Transceiver thereby expanding its portfolio of RadioPulse wireless technology solutions.

Zilog’s MG2420 is a low-power 2.4 GHz IEEE 802.15.4 and ZigBee compliant radio transceiver. Its operation frequency covers an ISM band of 2.4–2.48 GHz. In addition to the standard data rate specified in IEEE802.15.4, the MG2420 provides enhanced multiple data rates with channel coding (1 to 3 Mbps). This transceiver can be controlled by an external microcontroller and its operations configured through a high speed Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI). The MG2420 has ultra-low power consumption, 15.4 mA in the receiver (Rx) mode and 16.1 mA in the transmitter (Tx) mode with 0 dBm output power. The MG2420’s high data rate utilization (3 Mbps) helps minimize transmission and reception time, leading to further reduction in power consumption.

When developing various types of systems, the engineering community often looks for an effective, well-designed RF transceiver, which provides the flexibility vital for the design. Zilog’s MG2420, a single-chip RF transceiver in a compact 4x4x0.85 mm package, meets this requirement. It includes an RF front-end, VCO, PLL, digital block including baseband modem, MAC, power management, and a high speed SPI.

The MG2420 core operates at 1.2V, and its I/O pin voltages can range from 1.8V to 3.6V. There are several on-chip voltage regulators to separately power the analog and digital blocks. The current consumption is just under one microamp in the power saving “Deep Sleep” mode. Also, no external T/R switch and filter are needed since the bidirectional differential RF pins are used. Other key features include Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS), MSK (O-QPSK) modulation, digital RSSI output, two 256-byte FIFOs, AES-128 engine, and automatic ACK transmission.

“The MG2420 displays excellent interference rejection. It can receive a desired signal even when there is interference from ZigBee or other communication devices such as wi-fi or bluetooth. It also has a longer communication range based on high transmit power up to +9 dBm and high sensitivity of –97 dBm at 250 Kbps,” remarked Steve Darrough, Zilog’s VP of Marketing. “Only a few external components like RF matching network, crystal, bias resistor, and antenna, are necessary to achieve an optimized lower cost solution.”

This new transceiver from Zilog is well suited for such applications as home automation and security, automatic meter reading, factory automation and motor control, remote keyless entry with acknowledgement, low power telemetry, toys and gaming peripherals, remote controller for consumer electronics, audio/video, and medical devices.

Zilog’s RadioPulse MG2420 Transceiver is now available for customers that place orders through our distribution channels. For more information, visit www.zilog.com.

About Zilog an IXYS Company

Zilog makes and markets technology driven products to improve power conversion efficiency, generate solar and wind power, and provide efficient motor control for industrial applications. IXYS offers a diversified product base that addresses worldwide needs for power control, electrical efficiency, renewable energy, telecommunications, medical devices, electronic displays, and RF power.

Safe Harbor Statement

Any statements contained in this press release that are not statements of historical fact, including the performance, rating, benefits, reliability, availability and suitability of products for various applications, may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. There are a number of important factors that could cause the results of IXYS to differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements, including, among others, risks detailed from time to time in the Company's SEC reports, including its Report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended December 31, 2016. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly release the results of any revisions to these forward-looking statements.

Contact: 
Steve Darrough
Zilog, Inc.
1590 Buckeye Drive
Milpitas, CA 95035
Tel: (408) 644-6534
Email: [email protected]