A 2-stage recursive receiver optimized for low flicker noise corner

Multi-frequency signal recursion allows for efficient reuse of transconductance in a radio receiver, which helps to reduce power dissipation. An I-Q receiver based on the recursive principle is demonstrated here. The design employs a self-biased load, with chopping at baseband in order to minimize low-frequency in-band flicker noise. The bias setting of the chopper devices is optimized to enhance the baseband load impedance and conversion gain of the receiver. An implementation in 130 nm CMOS provides 59.6 dB conversion gain for an RF of 960 MHz, and 8.2 dB DSB-NF. The measured flicker noise corner frequency is 100 kHz. The total current requirement is 2.6 mA from a 1.2 V supply.