LNA And Mixer Design In Digital CMOS Technology

The radio frequency front end acts as information receiver and processor in the modern communication circuits. It is a very important part of the communication block. With its advantages like small-size, low-power-consumption and facility in being integrated with other systems, the CMOS radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC) has become a pop research area in both the academic world and the industry. It has many applications, which are mainly in the low-end applications. Compared with the traditional techniques, the CMOS RFIC has its shortages. Nowadays the CMOS RFIC chips often employ some special technology which increases the cost. However, they are still much cheaper than traditional technologies. The aim of this thesis is to present CMOS RFIC design in the standard digital CMOS technology. This benefits a lot for both higher integration and lower cost.A low noise amplifier (LNA) and a mixer realized in standard digital CMOS technology are presented in this thesis. First, to give some guidance to the circuit design, based on large amount of literature, a summary of the MOS noise research is introduced with analysis and careful choosing of existed literature. The noise models in use in the industry are compared too. Second, a single-end to dual-end LNA which benefits for integrating the RF block and the digital block is presented. The LNA design method which absorbs the parasitic capacitance of ESD is introduced and compared with the traditional design method. Third, an active mixer which needs only single-end local oscillator (LO) input is presented, which simplifies the RF block design and reduces the impacts of the phase noise of LO. At last, the layout and test of the designed circuits are introduced. Some essential points of CMOS RFIC layout are presented based on literature and design experience. Then a brief analysis of the test results is presented.The test results show that the design method and circuits that are presented in this thesis are feasible and it is possible to accomplish the design of RFIC with standard digital CMOS technology.