Transceiver chips are found within transceivers, electronic devices that both transmit and receive signal frequencies. Video, radio, Ethernet, and wireless transceivers are available and they are also built into computer modems, where they are embedded into network cards. The function of a tranceiver, no matter what form or media type, remains exactly the same. Chip transceivers, or transceiver chips, can be very small and inserted directly onto system boards or wired onto circuit boards. There are a variety of types of transceiver chips in different kinds of transceiver devices.
One of the common types of transceiver chips is found in a transceiver for microwave radar. It is used in applications like speed sensors, array radars, and detection systems for obstacles in automobiles and other vehicles. The chip, or integrated circuit (IC) chip, is a flip chip that is mounted and is a monolithic microwave IC, or MMIC. These MMIC’s are made from substrates of gallium arsenide (GaAs), with a microstrip line being the primary medium of microwave signal transmissions in the transceiver. The chips used in microwave radars are low cost and include a radar transceiver for processing of signals, and power conditioning chips made of a substrate with patch antennas for microwave transmission and reception.
Another type of transceiver chip is found in a transceiver that utilizes fiber optics and cables. These transceiver chips are constructed using techniques that mount advanced versions of flip chips. This device uses chips and fiber optics for signal transmissions that are bi-directional, with super imposed coupling grating a fiber’s flat surface to couple light into and away from the particular optical fiber. The device’s transceiver chip controls the transmission and reception of signals in the machine, operating wirelessly.
Transceiver chips can also be used in small computer networks for communication and Internet connection through a wireless router. Wireless technology has become much more common, as has the utilization of transceiver chips to allow wireless connectivity. Transmission and reception of wireless signals were once a problem, but have improved with the progression of transceiver chip technology. One type of transceiver chip used in a computer network system transmits and receives between 5.15 and 5.35 gigahertz (GHz) of frequency signals, has a switch to turn on/off transmission and reception of frequencies, and external filters to filter out undesired interference with frequency signals. The transceiver chip also operates at low power to conserve energy and prevent degradation of the chip.