A RF receiver frontend for SC-UWB in a 0.18-μm CMOS process

Abstract

A radio frequency (RF) receiver frontend for single-carrier ultra-wideband (SC-UWB) is presented. The front end employs direct-conversion architecture, and consists of a differential low noise amplifier (LNA), a quadrature mixer, and two intermediate frequency (IF) amplifiers. The proposed LNA employs source inductively degenerated topology. First, the expression of input impedance matching bandwidth in terms of gate-source capacitance, resonant frequency and target S11 is given. Then, a noise figure optimization strategy under gain and power constraints is proposed, with consideration of the integrated gate inductor, the bond-wire inductance, and its variation. The LNA utilizes two stages with different resonant frequencies to acquire flat gain over the 7.1–8.1 GHz frequency band, and has two gain modes to obtain a higher receiver dynamic range. The mixer uses a double balanced Gilbert structure. The front end is fabricated in a TSMC 0.18-μm RF CMOS process and occupies an area of 1.43 mm2. In high and low gain modes, the measured maximum conversion gain are 42 dB and 22 dB, input 1 dB compression points are −40 dBm and −20 dBm, and S11 is better than −18 dB and −14.5 dB. The 3 dB IF bandwidth is more than 500 MHz. The double sideband noise figure is 4.7 dB in high gain mode. The total power consumption is 65 mW from a 1.8 V supply.