A CMOS RF-receiver front-end for 1 GHz applications

We present a 0.5 /spl mu/m CMOS RF-Receiver Front-End (RFE) for potential use in a fully integrated Rockwell transceiver IC aimed at GSM and DCT (Digital Cordless Telephone) applications. The RFE is fully packaged in a standard TSSOP 20-pin device with ESD protection comparable to modern bipolar devices of similar performance. To our knowledge, this RFE represents the first reported RF-CMOS device mounted in a standard TSSOP 20-pin package with a minimum of 1 kV ESD protection. The RFE includes a 940 MHz low noise amplifier (LNA), a super-heterodyne downconversion mixer and a local oscillator (LO) buffer. The RFE has a noise figure of 4.8 dB (including the external image-rejection filter), power gain of +10.7 dB and IIP3 of -8 dBm with a total current consumption of 13 mA from a 2.7 V supply. The minimum protection of 1 kV ESD is primarily constrained by the LNA input frequency (940 MHz) and its noise figure. Unlike previously reported work, the packaged RFE device is unconditionally stable through the entire frequency spectrum.