A 0.6-to-10GHz Receiver Front-End in 45nm CMOS

Wireless communication is evolving towards multi-standard terminals that handle various standards including those for cellular, WLAN and WPAN applications. Software-defined radios (SDR) are being considered as a likely platform to build tomorrow's handsets. The receiver in such radios can be tuned over a wide range of frequencies and can support multiple modulation schemes. Consequently, broadband receivers with good linearity and noise performance over a wide band are needed. The digital part of an SDR will dominate the silicon area, mandating the use of advanced CMOS technologies. The analog/RF circuitry is preferably integrated on the same die as the digital part. This paper describes a fully integrated broadband receiver front-end in 45nm baseline CMOS. A highly linear low-noise receiver covering a spectrum from below 1GHz (-3dB at 600MHz) up to 10GHz, including the WiMedia ultra-wideband (UWB) spectrum is demonstrated.