Kaben Enters Baseband Video DAC IP Market

– Kaben Research Inc., a leading developer of mixed-signal, Intellectual Property (IP) blocks for Wireless, System-on-a-Chip (SoC) manufacturers, announced today that it is developing a Baseband Video DAC IP cell for a lead customer. The DAC is based on Delta-Sigma technology and is ideal for applications requiring high linearity and precise reconstruction of analog signals. The target technologies are TSMC's 0.13 and 0.18 micron processes; however the IP is mostly digital and therefore easily portable to other processes.

In order to be competitive in the current economic climate, fabless semiconductor manufacturers are being forced to lower development costs and shorten time to market. The Kaben DAC can be fully laid out by standard digital auto Place and Route software. This lowers the cost while speeding up the development time thereby achieving a faster time to market. 

Traditional DACs require the cells to be laid out by hand because these DACs are sensitive to matching issues requiring the utmost care in layout. Also analog reconstruction filters are required after a conventional DAC.

Kaben's IP is unique because it is not reliant on device matching issues meaning that standard digital auto place and route tools can be utilized. With Kaben's IP the analog reconstruction filters are part of the DAC and can also be integrated into a digital design flow. When system simplification is desired, Kaben's analog reconstruction filters can replace digital filtering before the DAC that would normally be performed in DSP.

Describing the benefits of Kaben's DAC IP to SoC manufacturers, Kaben VP of Marketing, Seste Dell'Aera said, “Our customers can quickly integrate Kaben's Auto-Place-and-Routable Baseband Video DAC IP which means that they can significantly lower the development cost and quickly bring the product to market.” Referring to the benefits to startups, Dell'Aera added, “One of the biggest problems faced by SoC manufacturers brought on by increasingly complicated designs is getting the product out the door. Investors are asking for faster turnarounds to capitalize on their investment. Kaben's IP helps them to achieve this goal.”

About Kaben
Kaben Research is an IP company focused on design, development, and licensing of mixed-signal building blocks that are key to creating future SoC products. The company delivers high-performance, proven IP blocks to SoC manufacturers in the wireless communications market that significantly reduce risk, cost, and time to market. Kaben's IP product offering includes: Frequency Synthesizers, Sampling IF Filters, D/A Converters, and Programmable Clock Generators. For more information, please visit our Web site at www.kabenresearch.com.