A low-voltage, high-power T/R-switch MMIC using LC resonators

A novel T/R switch is proposed for high-power/low-distortion operation at a low control voltage. LC-resonant switches composed of inductors, capacitors, and switch FET's are incorporated in TX and RX arms to provide a reverse control scheme that removes the rf-voltage limitation in the transmit mode, A 1.9-GHz LC-resonant T/R switch MMIC with a total FET periphery of 3.36 mm exhibits 3rd IMR less than -40 dB for an input power up to 31 dBm when controlled at a V/-2 V. This MMIC occupies an area as small as less than 2/spl times/2 mm, This will make it possible to implement advanced T/R-switches at PCS and ISM frequencies below 5 GHz. >