A 3.6mW 2.4-GHz multi-channel super-regenerative receiver in 130nm CMOS

Super-regeneration is re-examined for its simplicity and power efficiency for low-power, short-range communication. Although previous approaches rely on a high quality off-chip LC-tuned circuit, this paper describes a fully integrated 2.4-GHz ISM band super-regenerative receiver implemented in 130 nm CMOS. Several new design features, that take advantage of digital processing, are proposed. A synthesizer scheme tunes the circuit for multi-channel operation. Frequency selectivity is improved through Q-enhancement. The entire receiver occupies less than 1 mm², and consumes 3 mA from a 1.2 V supply, with a data rate of up to 500 Kbps, an energy per received bit of 7.2 nJ/bit, a channel spacing of 10 MHz, and a sensitivity of -80 dBm