A resonant switch for LNA protection in watt-level CMOS transceivers

An integrated resonant switch designed to protect low-noise amplifier (LNA) circuits in CMOS transceivers is reported. The design implements the receive-path portion of a transmit/receive switch protecting 3-V-process transistors from 5 W (22-V peak) transmit signals while simultaneously helping to achieve a good LNA noise figure on receive and low power loss on transmit. Since the approach is to combine an LNA's matching network and switch functions, the design has no traditional insertion loss on receive. The effective loss to the transmitted signal is less than 0.5 dB using moderate quality inductors (Q>6) and 0.1 dB using Q=12 inductors achievable in most RF-aware CMOS silicon-on-insulator foundries at UHF through S-band frequencies.

[1]  M. Hines.  Fundamental limitations in RF switching and phase shifting using semiconductor diodes , 1964 .

[2]  Ichihiko Toyoda,et al.  A low-voltage, high-power T/R-switch MMIC using LC resonators , 1995 .

[3]  J. C. Freire,et al.  Monolithic transistor SPST switch for L-band , 2002 .

[4]  K. O. Kenneth,et al.  Single-pole double-throw CMOS switches for 900-MHz and 2.4-GHz applications on p-silicon substrates , 2004, IEEE J. Solid State Circuits.

[5]  J. C. Freire,et al.  Monolithic transistors SPST switch for L band , 1999, 1999 SBMO/IEEE MTT-S International Microwave and Optoelectronics Conference.

[6]  A. Kameyama,et al.  A novel resonant-type GaAs SPDT switch IC with low distortion characteristics for 1.9 GHz personal handy-phone system , 1996, 1996 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium Digest.

[7]  K.K. O,et al.  Single-pole double-throw CMOS switches for 900-MHz and 2.4-GHz applications on p/sup -/silicon substrates , 2004, IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits.

[8]  Ali Hajimiri,et al.  Fully integrated CMOS power amplifier design using the distributed active-transformer architecture , 2002, IEEE J. Solid State Circuits.

[9]  T.H. Lee,et al.  A 1.5 V, 1.5 GHz CMOS low noise amplifier , 1996, 1996 Symposium on VLSI Circuits. Digest of Technical Papers.

[10]  William B. Kuhn.  Fully integrated bandpass filters for wireless transceivers-problems and promises , 2002, The 2002 45th Midwest Symposium on Circuits and Systems, 2002. MWSCAS-2002..

[11]  S.S. Wong,et al.  Integrated CMOS transmit-receive switch using LC-tuned substrate bias for 2.4-GHz and 5.2-GHz applications , 2004, IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits.

[12]  William B. Kuhn,et al.  Dynamic range performance of on-chip rf bandpass filters , 2003 .

[13]  William B. Kuhn,et al.  Dynamic Range Performance of On-Chip , 2003 .