Broadcom squeezes Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, FM onto one-die phone chip

Broadcom has begun sampling what it claims is the first ever mobile phone chip to cram not only Wi-Fi and Bluetooth but also an FM tuner onto a single die. The part is fabbed at 65nm.

The BCM4325 supports 802.11a/b/g Wi-Fi, incorporating the MAC, baseband circuitry and the radio on the one die. The chip includes Broadcom's BroadRange non-standard range-boosting technology. It also has Broadcom's system for smoothing the co-existence between Wi-Fi and Bluetooth in the 2.4GHz band.

Handy that, since the chip has Bluetooth 2.0 EDR (Enhanced Data Rate) on board. It's upgradeable to Bluetooth 2.1 too, Broadcom said.

The FM radio receiver supports the European Radio Data Service (RDS) and the North American Radio Broadcast Data Service (RBDS) station ident systems.

In addition to allowing the company to squeeze in all these components, the 65nm process used to make the BCM4325 also ensures the chip consumes 40 per cent less power than competing products, Broadcom claimed.

The part is sampling now, but Broadcom didn't indicate when it will ship in volume.