Taipei, Taiwan -- Armed with three RF transceivers, Airoha Technology Corp. is making its move in the emerging 802.11n market, joining Broadcom, Atheros and others jostling for position before the ink is dry on the standard.

Airoha is sampling a dual-band (2.4- to 2.5-GHz and 4.9- to 5.9-GHz) RF device that uses a silicon germanium BiCMOS process to enable the integration of power amplifiers. The transceiver is based on a 1T1R architecture (one transmit, one receive) and can be used in multiple configurations, from 1Tx2R to 4Tx4R, to improve sensitivity. By year's end, the company expects to sample a single-band 2T3R 11n transceiver, to be followed in early 2008 by a dual-band 2T3R offering.

At the same time, Airoha is beefing up its AL223X series of ultralow-power 802.11b/g transceivers for consumer electronics and has already claimed a design win in a recently announced rival to Apple's iPod. Airoha is betting that reductions in cost and power draw will bring opportunities as wireless LANs push into consumer electronics devices. By 2008, data tracker IDC Corp. expects WLAN functionality in consumer electronics to grow to 13 percent, up from 1 percent in 2004 and accounting for some 81 million WLAN-enabled devices in the market.

Airoha is taking the same tack for the .11n market. Airoha President Michael Lu said the company's .11n transceiver can "dramatically" cut the bill of materials cost for draft-compliant .11n systems, bringing it close to that of .11g. That should make .11n more attractive to OEMs and, eventually, consumers.

The AL8230 dual-band transceiver (1T1R) is available now and comes in a 7 x -mm QFN package. It integrates the power amplifier, synthesizer, low-noise amp and loop filter and uses a zero-intermediate-frequency architecture to eliminate the IF circuitry. Automatic in-phase and quadrature phase mismatch calibration lets baseband chip set vendors eliminate I&Q adjustment circuitry.

The part provides output of 20 dBm in 802.11b mode, 17 dBm in 802.11g mode and 15 dBm in 802.11a mode, the company said.

The AL8160 single-band device (2.4 to 2.5 GHz, based on 2T3R) will sample in the fourth quarter in an 8-mm QFN package. Its integration mirrors that of the AL8230.

The AL8260 dual-band (2T3R) transceiver will come in a 9-mm QFN and sample in early 2008.

Airoha is also sampling an FM tuner that integrates the voltage-controlled oscillator. The offering is said to require one external supply bypass capacitor and less than 20 mm of board space.