VLSI for analog/digital communications

Present trends and future prospects are discussed, emphasizing the prospects for fuller VLSI integration of low-power digital radio, for applications such as in-building wireless radio receivers. The main concern is with the front end of the receiver, including continuous-time analog and sampled analog VLSI filtering, and technologies that can mix analog and digital on the same chip. Prospects for the use of bipolar complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (BiCMOS) technology in communications are examined. Continuous-time monolithic filtering is discussed. As an example of a central receiver/transmitter component that one would like to integrate monolithically, the frequency synthesizer is considered.<>