A Low Flicker Noise RF Front-end with Resonating Inductor for 2.4 GHz ISM Band

This paper presents the implementation and performance measurements of RF front-end to reduce the flicker noise and power consumption in TSMC 0.18 um process for 2.4 GHz ISM band. Folded mixers and differential low noise amplifiers (LNA) constitute the proposed RF front-end. Gilbert-cell mixers using the folded technique have been designed for low flicker noise and low power consumption. The folded mixers are implemented by using PMOS devices in switching stage of mixers with a resonating inductor for low flicker noise. The proposed RF front-end consumes 7.34 mW from 1.2 V supply voltage, while conversion gain of 23 dB is achieved. The IIP3 is -7.4 dBm, and the proposed RF front-end has good linearity. By using PMOS devices and folded technique, low flicker noise of 10 dB at 1 kHz is achieved, and thus proposed RF front-end can be used in direct conversion receiver for a narrow bandwidth.