STMicroelectronics reveals broad selection of antenna-matching RF integrated passive devices for STM32WL MCUs

STMicroelectronics has released nine RF integrated passive devices (RF IPDs) that combine antenna impedance-matching, balun, and harmonic-filter circuity optimized for STM32WL wireless microcontrollers (MCUs).

ST’s STM32WL MCUs combine application-level processing and wireless communication for smart, connected devices, by integrating an Arm® Cortex®-M4 MCU with a sub-GHz long-range radio managed by a Cortex-M0+ core. The radio is LPWAN compliant, supports multiple modulation schemes, and comes with LoRaWAN® and Sigfox™ stacks included in the STM32CubeWL MCU software package.

The RF IPDs, packaged as tiny chip-scale devices, connect the STM32WL MCU to its antenna and help maximize the RF performance. By integrating all the components on one die, they ensure consistent performance avoiding the process variations that affect conventional matching networks built with discrete components. They also simplify circuit design, save on bill of materials, and permit a smaller form factor, making them ideal for cost-sensitive and space-constrained IoT devices.

The nine RF IPD variants available let designers choose the optimum parameters according to the RF frequency range and power, MCU package type, and two- or four-layer PCB (more info).