9.9-mA 5-6 GHz CMOS Sub-Harmonic Direct-Conversion Receiver Using Deep N-Well BJT

Abstract

A low-power sub-harmonic direct-down receiver is demonstrated using 0.18 mu m CMOS technology. The dynamic range of the receiver is increased by incorporating voltage gain controls with wide tuning range at RF and IF stages. For the flicker noise problem, vertical-NPN bipolar junction transistors (BJTs) in standard CMOS process are employed as the mixer switching core and at the input stage of the subsequent IF VGA. As a result, this work achieves a 45 dB gain from 5-6 GHz with 6 dB noise floor. The total current consumption is 5.5 mA at 1.8 V supply voltage.