Wideband Cascaded and Stacked Receiver Front-Ends Employing an Improved Clock-Strategy Technique

A wideband cascaded receiver and a stacked receiver using an improved clock strategy are proposed to support the software-defined radio (SDR). The improved clock strategy reduces the number of mixer switches and the number of LO clock paths required to drive the mixer switches. This reduces the dyna...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Arash Abbasi, Frederic Nabki
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2023-02-01
Series:Journal of Low Power Electronics and Applications
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9268/13/1/14
Description
Summary:A wideband cascaded receiver and a stacked receiver using an improved clock strategy are proposed to support the software-defined radio (SDR). The improved clock strategy reduces the number of mixer switches and the number of LO clock paths required to drive the mixer switches. This reduces the dynamic power consumption. The cascaded receiver includes an inverter-based low-noise transconductance amplifier (LNTA) using a feed-forward technique to enhance the noise performance; a passive mixer; and an inverter-based transimpedance amplifier (TIA). The stacked receiver architecture is used to reduce the power consumption by sharing the current between the LNTA and the TIA from a single supply. It utilizes a wideband LNTA with a capacitor cross-coupled (CCC) common-gate (CG) topology, a passive mixer to convert the RF current to an IF current, an active inductor (AI) and a <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mn>1</mn><mo>/</mo><mi>f</mi></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> noise-cancellation (NC) technique to improve the noise performance, and a TIA to convert the IF current to an IF voltage at the output. Both cascaded and stacked receivers are simulated in 22 <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mi mathvariant="normal">n</mi></semantics></math></inline-formula><inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mi mathvariant="normal">m</mi></semantics></math></inline-formula> CMOS technology. The cascaded receiver achieves a conversion-gain from 26 <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mi mathvariant="normal">d</mi></semantics></math></inline-formula><inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mi mathvariant="normal">B</mi></semantics></math></inline-formula> to 36 <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mi mathvariant="normal">d</mi></semantics></math></inline-formula><inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mi mathvariant="normal">B</mi></semantics></math></inline-formula>, a double-sideband noise-figure (NFDSB) from <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mn>1.4</mn></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mi mathvariant="normal">d</mi></semantics></math></inline-formula><inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mi mathvariant="normal">B</mi></semantics></math></inline-formula> to <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mn>3.9</mn></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mi mathvariant="normal">d</mi></semantics></math></inline-formula><inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mi mathvariant="normal">B</mi></semantics></math></inline-formula>, <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><msub><mi mathvariant="normal">S</mi><mn>11</mn></msub><mo><</mo></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula><inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mo>−</mo><mn>10</mn></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mi mathvariant="normal">d</mi></semantics></math></inline-formula><inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mi mathvariant="normal">B</mi></semantics></math></inline-formula> and an IIP3 from <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mo>−</mo><mn>7.5</mn></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mi mathvariant="normal">d</mi></semantics></math></inline-formula><inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mi>Bm</mi></semantics></math></inline-formula> to <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mo>−</mo><mn>10.5</mn></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mi mathvariant="normal">d</mi></semantics></math></inline-formula><inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mi>Bm</mi></semantics></math></inline-formula>, over the RF operating band from <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mn>0.4</mn></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mi mathvariant="normal">G</mi></semantics></math></inline-formula><inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mi>Hz</mi></semantics></math></inline-formula> to 12 <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mi mathvariant="normal">G</mi></semantics></math></inline-formula><inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mi>Hz</mi></semantics></math></inline-formula>. The stacked receiver achieves a conversion-gain from <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mn>34.5</mn></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mi mathvariant="normal">d</mi></semantics></math></inline-formula><inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mi mathvariant="normal">B</mi></semantics></math></inline-formula> to 36 <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mi mathvariant="normal">d</mi></semantics></math></inline-formula><inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mi mathvariant="normal">B</mi></semantics></math></inline-formula>, a NFDSB from <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mn>4.6</mn></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mi mathvariant="normal">d</mi></semantics></math></inline-formula><inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mi mathvariant="normal">B</mi></semantics></math></inline-formula> to <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mn>6.2</mn></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mi mathvariant="normal">d</mi></semantics></math></inline-formula><inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mi mathvariant="normal">B</mi></semantics></math></inline-formula>, <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><msub><mi mathvariant="normal">S</mi><mn>11</mn></msub><mo><</mo></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula><inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mo>−</mo><mn>10</mn></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mi mathvariant="normal">d</mi></semantics></math></inline-formula><inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mi mathvariant="normal">B</mi></semantics></math></inline-formula>, and an IIP3 from <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mo>−</mo><mn>21</mn></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mi mathvariant="normal">d</mi></semantics></math></inline-formula><inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mi>Bm</mi></semantics></math></inline-formula> to <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mo>−</mo><mn>17.5</mn></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mi mathvariant="normal">d</mi></semantics></math></inline-formula><inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mi>Bm</mi></semantics></math></inline-formula>, over the RF operating band from <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mn>2.2</mn></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mi mathvariant="normal">G</mi></semantics></math></inline-formula><inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mi>Hz</mi></semantics></math></inline-formula> to <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mn>3.2</mn></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mi mathvariant="normal">G</mi></semantics></math></inline-formula><inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mi>Hz</mi></semantics></math></inline-formula>. The cascaded receiver consumes 11 m from a 1 <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mi mathvariant="normal">V</mi></semantics></math></inline-formula> supply voltage, while the stacked receiver consumes <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mn>2.4</mn></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> m from a <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mn>1.2</mn></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mi mathvariant="normal">V</mi></semantics></math></inline-formula> supply voltage.
ISSN:2079-9268