A 5-GHz silicon bipolar radio transceiver front-end

A 5-GHz radio transceiver front-end chipset, including an image-reject down-converter and a dB-linear variable-gain up-converter, was implemented in a 46-GHz-f_T pure silicon bipolar technology. The down-converter has a 4-dB noise figure, a 22-dB power gain and a 1-dB input compression point of -20 dBm. It also exhibits an image rejection ratio higher than 60-dB. The up-converter achieves a 1-dB output compression point of 6-dBm, a 13-dB power gain, providing a linear-in-dB gain characteristic with a dynamic range of 30-dB. The overall current consumption is 68-mA from a 3-V supply voltage.