A Single-Chip 10-Band WCDMA/HSDPA 4-Band GSM/EDGE SAW-less CMOS Receiver With DigRF 3G Interface and 90 dBm IIP2

• Published in: IEEE journal of solid-state circuits Vol. 44; no. 3; pp. 718 - 739
• Main Authors: Kaczman, D., Shah, M., Alam, M., Rachedine, M., Cashen, D., Lu Han, Raghavan, A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY IEEE 01.03.2009; Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: 25% duty-cycle; Acoustic wave devices, piezoelectric and piezoresistive devices; Amplifiers; Applied sciences; Calibration; Circuit properties; complex IIP2; DCOC; Design; Design. Technologies. Operation analysis. Testing; digital RF interface (DigRF); digitally assisted calibration; direct conversion; direct coupled filter (DCF); Downlink; duplex noise figure; EDGE; EGPRS; Electric, optical and optoelectronic circuits; Electronic circuits; Electronics; EVM; Exact sciences and technology; Gain control; GSM; High speed integrated circuits; high-speed downlink packet access (HSDPA); high-speed packet access (HSPA); IIP2; Integrated circuits; multi-band; multi-mode; Multiaccess communication; Noise; Passive filters; SAW-less; Semiconductor electronics. Microelectronics. Optoelectronics. Solid state devices; Signal convertors; Smart phones; smartphone; surface acoustic wave (SAW) filters; transceiver; Transceivers; Transconductance; wideband CDMA (WCDMA); Performance evaluation; Surface acoustic wave filters; Second order; EGPRS; direct conversion; smartphone; SAW-less; Low noise amplifier; Threshold current; surface acoustic wave (SAW) filters; Gain control; DCOC; digitally assisted calibration; Transceiver; III-VI compound; Complementary MOS technology; Transimpedance; Automatic system; Single stage circuit; Inductive load; Transconductance; digital RF interface (DigRF); GSM; IIP2; high-speed downlink packet access (HSDPA); Operational amplifier; complex IIP2; Low noise circuit; high-speed packet access (HSPA); multi-band, multi-mode; Wide band transmission; Receiver; Mixers (circuits); Calibration; Algorithm; III-V compound; Intercept point; 3G; 25% duty-cycle; direct coupled filter (DCF); Code division multiple access; duplex noise figure, EDGE; wideband CDMA (WCDMA); EVM
• ISSN: 0018-9200; 1558-173X
• DOI: 10.1109/JSSC.2009.2013762

This paper describes the design and performance of a 90 nm CMOS SAW-less receiver with DigRF interface that supports 10 WCDMA bands (I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VIII, IX, X, XI) and 4 GSM bands (GSM850, EGSM900, DCS1800, PCS1900). The receiver is part of a single-chip SAW-less transceiver reference platform IC for mass-market smartphones, which has been designed to meet Category 10 HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) requirements. The novel receiver core consists of a single-stage transconductance amplifier (TCA) with large gain control range, a current commutating passive mixer enhanced for automatic on chip IIP2 calibration with 25% duty-cycle LO injection and threshold adjust, and current-input complex Direct Coupled Filter (DCF). The low noise TCAs are designed without inductive loads to save area. A self-contained on chip automatic IIP2 calibration system with algorithm routine, implemented in firmware, is used to optimize IIP2 performance. This topology eliminates the external LNA, inter-stage SAW filter and transimpedance amplifier (TZA) in conventional WCDMA designs and results in current drain and die area savings as well as improved noise. The 25% duty-cycle LO injection, with threshold adjustment, into a current driven passive double-balanced mixer results in 3 dB additional gain, lower noise figure and lower intermodulation distortion. Large signal blocking and 1/f noise performance are improved significantly by eliminating the 0 and 180deg LO signal crossover at the mixer. The full receiver achieves 2.2 dB/2.39 dB simplex/duplex NF (with - 24.5 dBm TX leakage), > 90 dBm complex two-tone IIP2, 60 dB gain and - 1/+ 5 dBm half/full-duplex image IIP3. The receiver core consumes only 15.1 mA from a 1.5 V supply.