Блог компании Qorvo AWMF-0145 High Integrated Single Polarization Quad Rx Beamformer

Shenzhen Mingjiada Electronics Co., Ltd. supplies and recycles the Qorvo AWMF-0145 highly integrated single-polarisation four-channel receive beamformer.

I. AWMF-0145 Product Overview

The Qorvo AWMF-0145 is a highly integrated, single-polarisation, four-channel receive (Rx) beamforming chip developed for millimetre-wave 5G communication applications. It forms part of Qorvo’s first-generation commercial millimetre-wave 5G beamforming IC product family and is one of the core reference devices for the development and deployment of 5G millimetre-wave phased array systems. Designed specifically for the 37.1 GHz–40 GHz high-frequency band and precisely aligned with the 3GPP-defined n260 5G millimetre-wave band, this chip employs a single-polarisation 4×1 channel architecture capable of simultaneously interfacing with four antenna radiating elements. It focuses on RF beam control within the receive chain, providing a high-precision, high-speed, and compact beamforming solution for 5G millimetre-wave phased array antenna systems.

Leveraging a silicon-based quad-core integrated architecture, the AWMF-0145 highly integrates core functions—such as phase control, gain adjustment, signal calibration and status monitoring—that were previously handled by discrete components, thereby significantly simplifying the hardware design architecture of millimetre-wave receiving arrays. The chip utilises a lightweight wafer-level chip-scale package (WLCSP) and supports flip-chip mounting, allowing it to be directly integrated onto planar phased array antenna boards. This significantly reduces equipment size and wiring complexity, making it widely suitable for millimetre-wave reception scenarios such as 5G base stations, small cells, user terminal equipment and lightweight security communications.

II. Core Functions and Key Features of the AWMF-0145

1. High-precision dual-mode digital control capability

The AWMF-0145 is equipped with an industry-standard dual-DSP architecture comprising 5-bit phase control and 5-bit gain control, providing support for fine-tuning parameters during analogue RF beam scanning. The 5-bit phase control enables precise, stepwise calibration of the received signal phase, effectively compensating for phase shifts, spatial losses and phase errors in array elements during millimetre-wave transmission, thereby ensuring the accuracy of beam pointing; The 5-bit gain control supports independent gain fine-tuning across four channels, balancing differences in received signal amplitude between different antenna elements, suppressing inter-channel signal interference, and significantly enhancing the consistency and signal-to-noise ratio of the array’s received signals. The dual 5-bit digital control solution strikes a balance between control precision and response speed, fully meeting the dynamic control requirements of high-speed 5G millimetre-wave beamforming.

2. High-Speed Beam Switching and Stable Control Mechanism

The chip incorporates dedicated beam weight storage registers capable of pre-storing multiple sets of beam control parameters, eliminating the need for real-time, point-by-point configuration via an external controller. This enables rapid beam switching at the millisecond level, perfectly meeting the dynamic beam tracking requirements of high-speed mobile scenarios and multi-user dynamic access in 5G millimetre-wave communications. It also integrates a temperature-adaptive gain compensation module that monitors the chip’s operating temperature in real time and automatically corrects channel gain parameters in response to temperature fluctuations. This resolves the industry-wide challenges of gain attenuation at high temperatures and gain drift at low temperatures in millimetre-wave devices, ensuring stable receive link performance across the entire temperature range.

3. Comprehensive Status Monitoring and Protection Design

To meet the reliability requirements of industrial-grade and telecommunications-grade operations, the AWMF-0145 incorporates comprehensive status monitoring functions, supporting real-time chip temperature reporting and transmit power telemetry. This enables the system’s central controller to monitor the chip’s operating status in real time, facilitating fault prediction and system maintenance. All pins of the chip incorporate ESD protection structures, providing excellent resistance to electrostatic interference. This effectively withstands electrostatic discharges during production assembly and in outdoor operating environments, reducing the risk of device damage and enhancing the long-term operational reliability of the equipment.

4. Low-Power Integrated Architecture and Simplified Power Supply Design

The device employs a dual-voltage power supply architecture, requiring only two low-voltage power supplies of +1.8V and 2.5V to operate normally. This straightforward power supply solution eliminates the need for additional high-voltage power supplies and complex voltage regulator circuits, effectively reducing the overall power consumption of the system and the cost of power supply design. The highly integrated single-chip architecture eliminates the need for discrete components—such as amplifiers, phase shifters and calibrators—found in traditional beamforming solutions. This significantly reduces the number of peripheral circuit components, lowering system power consumption and the probability of failure, whilst meeting the design requirements for lightweight, low-power millimetre-wave terminal equipment.

III. AWMF-0145 Core Technical Specifications

All parameters of the AWMF-0145 are precisely aligned with the application standards for the 5G millimetre-wave n260 band. The core technical parameters are as follows, providing a standardised basis for system design:

- Operating frequency band: 37.1 GHz to 40 GHz (3GPP n260 standard band)

- Operating mode: Pure receive (Rx) beamforming, single-polarisation mode

- Channel architecture: Four-channel 4×1 array, supporting synchronous control of four antenna radiating elements

- Control accuracy: 5-bit phase control, 5-bit gain control

- Supply voltage: Dual-voltage low-voltage supply at +1.8 V and 2.5 V

- Package type: WLCSP (wafer-level chip-scale package), supporting flip-chip mounting

- Protection rating: Full-pin ESD protection, industrial-grade anti-interference design

- Compliance: Lead-free, compliant with RoHS environmental standards, no ITAR export restrictions

IV. Operating Principle of the AWMF-0145

As a core chip for four-channel receive beamforming, the AWMF-0145 operates on the principle of coordinated control of phase and gain across multiple channels to achieve directional beam synthesis of millimetre-wave receive signals. During operation, the millimetre-wave RF signals received by the four antenna radiating elements are fed into the chip’s four independent receive channels respectively. The chip uses its built-in 5-bit digital phase-shifting module to independently calibrate and fine-tune the phase of each signal, whilst simultaneously utilising a 5-bit gain adjustment module to equalise the signal amplitudes across the channels, thereby eliminating signal deviations caused by differences in array element spacing and transmission paths.

Combined with beam parameters pre-stored in the built-in beam weight storage registers, the chip can rapidly perform phase superposition and gain matching of multi-channel signals to synthesise a highly directional, high-gain receiving beam. This enables precise reception of millimetre-wave signals from a specified direction whilst suppressing interference signals from spurious directions. During operation, the temperature monitoring module collects real-time chip temperature data to dynamically compensate for fluctuations in channel gain, whilst the power telemetry module provides real-time feedback on the link’s operational status. This ensures consistently stable beamforming performance, ultimately optimising the acquisition and pre-processing of millimetre-wave received signals to provide high-quality input signals for the downstream RF demodulation and signal processing units.

V. Typical Application Scenarios for the AWMF-0145

Leveraging its suitability for the 37.1–40 GHz millimetre-wave band, miniaturised integration advantages and stable beam control performance, the AWMF-0145 is widely used in 5G millimetre-wave communication infrastructure and terminal equipment, whilst also being suitable for lightweight military and security communication scenarios:

- 5G macro base stations and small/micro base stations: As a core component of millimetre-wave receiving arrays in the n260 band, it enables directional signal reception in wide-coverage, high-density scenarios, enhancing base station reception sensitivity and spectrum utilisation.

- 5G user terminal equipment: Suitable for millimetre-wave CPEs, industrial gateways, high-definition wireless transmission terminals and similar devices, it optimises terminal reception beam performance and improves the stability of high-speed terminal communications.

- Lightweight security and aviation communications equipment: With its compact size, low power consumption and high reliability, it meets the design requirements for lightweight millimetre-wave receiving arrays and short-range, high-speed security communications equipment.

- 5G millimetre-wave test equipment: Provides standardised beamforming solutions for phased array antenna testing and millimetre-wave communication link debugging equipment.

VI. Core Advantages of the AWMF-0145

Compared to traditional discrete beamforming solutions, the core advantages of the AWMF-0145 lie in three key areas: integration, stability and adaptability. A single chip integrates all core functions of four-channel receive beamforming, significantly simplifying hardware circuit design and shortening product development cycles; Three key safeguard mechanisms—temperature-adaptive compensation, full-pin ESD protection and real-time status monitoring—significantly enhance the device’s operational stability in outdoor, high-temperature and complex electromagnetic environments; the WLCSP flip-chip packaging is compatible with planar antenna integration, meeting the trend towards miniaturisation and slim-profile design in millimetre-wave equipment, whilst the low-voltage, low-power architecture effectively reduces equipment operation and maintenance costs.

VII. Summary of the AWMF-0145

The Qorvo AWMF-0145 is a highly accurate, performance-proven, single-polarisation, four-channel millimetre-wave receive beamformer, designed for the 37.1–40 GHz n260 5G band. With its highly integrated single-chip architecture, high-precision dual digital control, high-speed beam switching and stable operation under all conditions, it addresses the pain points associated with early millimetre-wave receiver array designs, such as complexity, performance instability, and excessive size and power consumption. As a classic benchmark device for 5G millimetre-wave beamforming technology, it has not only supported the research, development and deployment of early-stage 5G millimetre-wave technology but has also laid the technical foundation for the iterative optimisation of subsequent generations of beamforming chips. It continues to hold significant application value in the fields of 5G communications infrastructure, terminal equipment and lightweight specialised communications.