Direct conversion RF front-end with a low-power consumption technique for 2.4 GHz ISM band

Abstract

The implementation and performance measurements of RF front-end are presented. The low-power RF front-end designed in TSMC 0.18 µm process for 2.4 GHz ISM band direct conversion is presented. The proposed RF front-end is comprised of the folded mixer, fully differential low-noise amplifier (LNA) and interstage matching network. Gilbert-cell mixers using the folded technique and current reused LNA are designed for low power consumption. The folded mixers are implemented by using PMOS devices in the switching stage of mixers with a resonating inductor for low flicker noise. The proposed RF front-end consumes 7.2 mW from the 1.2 V supply and a conversion gain of 23 dB is achieved. The third-order intercept point (IIP3) is −10.5 dBm, and the proposed RF front-end has good linearity. By using PMOS devices and the folded technique, low flicker noise of 10 dB at 10 kHz is achieved, and thus the proposed RF front-end can be used in the direct conversion receiver for narrow bandwidth.