A dual channel RF front end receiver with RF Q-enhanced LC filters

A dual channel RF front end receiver is presented in this thesis project. The receiver architecture makes the use of Q-enhanced LC filtering at RF band and subsampling technique to down convert the RF signal to low frequency. Each channel includes LNA, Q-enhanced LC filter and subsampling block, performs independent channel selection and downconversion. A wide band LNA is designed as the input stage to drive both channels. Analysis and comparison between Q-enhanced LC filter and Gm-C filter is presented in detail. The major issue of substrate coupling when multi channels are implemented on a single die area is discussed. Simulations using Cadence SCA (Substrate Coupling Analysis) tool show the effect of substrate coupling as well. The test chip is fabricated using standard 0.18um CMOS process. A bond wire package is used to test the system performance. Each channel performs channel selection from 1.57GHz to 1.80GHz respectively. Each filter can be tuned with different Q factor. Subsampling function is confirmed for both channels. The interchannel coupling issue is examined and measured.