Dynamic Range Performance of On-Chip

Despite decades of research in developing "single- chip" radio transceivers, most commercial designs continue to rely on off-chip components for RF bandpass filtering. Implementing these filters on-chip remains nearly as challenging today as it was ten years ago due to problems in meeting system requirements. Recent advances in silicon-on-insulator IC processes targeted at RF designs, however, offer the possibility of producing commer- cially-viable on-chip filters in the coming years using Q-enhance- ment techniques. This paper reviews filter implementation alterna- tives and dynamic range (DR) requirements, illustrating the funda- mental advantages of Q-enhanced LC filters over active, inductor- less, Gm-C designs. A 900-MHz Q-enhanced filter with a 20-MHz bandwidth is reported that achieves 78-dB DR in a 1-MHz band- width while consuming 39 mW. While still 15- to 20-dB below per- formance of comparable-power amplifiers and mixers, investiga- tions of noise figure and inductor Q illustrate how future designs can correct this deficiency, bringing DR performance into the com- mercially acceptable range.

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