A CMOS Transmitter Front-End for Mobile UHF RFID Reader

This paper describes a 900 MHz CMOS transmitter front-end for mobile UHF RFID reader including an I/Q up-mixer for frequency translation from IF to RF and a driver amplifier for signal pre-amplification. The proposed up-mixer can realize all the three modulation schemes specified in EPC Global C1G2 protocol. The driver amplifier can offer a seven-class adjustable conversion gain through a 3-bit gate bias control. Fabricated in IBM 0.18 mum CMOS process, the transmitter frontend consumes a minimum current of 14 mA from a 1.8 V power supply. The experimental results show that the up-mixer achieves -4.9 dBV
_rms
IIP3, 3.18 dB conversion gain and 13.20 dB NF, and the DA features 13.5 dBm OIP3 at 50 Omega, 7.90-16.30 dB conversion gain variation and 3.10-5.00 dB NF range.