SONY ANNOUNCES ENTIRE FRONT-END TUNER SOLUTION
FOR DIGITAL SET-TOP BOXES IN TWO CHIPS
New Chips Offers OEMs Easy Integration and Lower Cost Solution
LAS VEGAS, COMDEX Booth #L2225 Nov. 17, 1997 -- Sony Semiconductor Company of America (SSA), a division of
Sony Electronics Inc., announced today the CXA3038N and the
CXA3108Q, a two-chip tuner solution for satellite digital broadcast systems (DBS) and set-top box receivers.
The CXA3038N and CXA3108Q join Sony's Virtuoso™
family leveraging the company's digital and mixed signal design expertise. In comparison to alternatives, the chip-set
integrates more functionality in a two-chip tuner solution as well as significantly lower power requirements.
"As digital satellite broadcasting is expanding rapidly to world markets, OEMs are looking for more cost effective
ways to meet demands," said Vishwanath Nayak, director of marketing, consumer a/v/d division SSA. "This tuner
chip-set not only offers OEMs cost advantages, its power consumption is lower."
The CXA3108Q takes full advantage of Sony's high-speed bipolar process by integrating an
oscillator/mixer circuit for L-band down converter functions and a phase lock loop (PLL) circuit for channel selection
on a single chip rather than the two chips previously required. The onboard PLL control function supports both the I2C
bus and the three-wire bus allowing for a wider range of reference frequencies to be selected.
The CXA3108Q also incorporates a unique differential Colpitts oscillator circuit,
allowing this device to provide a stable oscillator signal with no parasitic oscillation over the wide band of 1.3 to
2.7GHz.
The CXA3038N features adjustment-free carrier recovery through an on-chip PLL circuit.
This function is required for 480MHz band quadrature detection whenever an on-chip PLL circuit is present. Because the
PLL circuit includes divide data, it can replace the high-cost SAW resonator and eliminate the need for an external
control. The CXA3038N includes an A/D converter allowing the frequency to be adjusted
±450KHz steps from the center frequency of 479.5MHz.
Sony designed the chip-set to support a wide range of applications such as single-unit tuners for both analog and
digital satellite broadcasts and tuners for both UHF and VHF broadcasts. This is achieved by integrating two IF output
circuit systems on the CXA3108Q and an external input pin for the PLL circuit.
The CXA3038N features an on-chip 32-frequency divider for local oscillator signals.
This enables the support of older carrier recovery techniques when a PLL circuit is included in the QPSK demodulation IC.
The CXA3038N and CXA3108Q consume 350mW and 250mW
power, respectively -- a significant reduction over previous solutions. This feature makes the chip-set optimal for
bit stream output tuner products that also include the QPSK demodulation and error correction circuit in the tuner pack
which typically generates a significant amount of heat.
The chips provide a glueless interface to Sony's Virtuoso CXD1961AQ QPSK FEC decoder.
Sony's tuner chip-set is manufactured using the P42 high-frequency linear process. Both the
CXA30308N and CXA3108Q are packaged as 24-pin SSOP. Sample quantities of the
CXA3038N and the CXA3108Q are currently available for $6
a set. Production quantities of 10,000 or more of both the CXA3038N and the
CXA3108Q are also available for $4 a set.
SSA, based in San Jose, Calif., is a leading manufacturer and supplier of integrated circuits. Since 1983, Sony has
designed, engineered and manufactured products for the U.S. semiconductor market. The company is a technology leader
in the development of semiconductor solutions for newly emerging and cutting edge high-performance markets in multimedia,
communications and workstation cache memory. Currently it offers a diverse array of innovative products ranging from
memory to multimedia, communications, networking and wireless ICs.
Vertically integrated for fast product development and production, Sony is positioned to respond quickly to customer
needs. The company has a state-of-the-art design center in San Jose and wafer fabrication facilities in San Antonio,
Texas.
Customer contact:
Please contact your local
area sales representative
for customer support.
