A low-power and variable-gain transceiver front-end chip for 5-GHz-band WLAN applications

A low-power 5-GHz-band transceiver front-end chip is described that uses highly reliable, high-performance InGaP/GaAs HBTs and complies with IEEE802.11a standards. Integrated into the chip (2.4/spl times/2.4 mm/sup 2/) are a 20/0-dB dual-gain low-noise amplifier and a wide IF-range down-conversion mixer in the receiver path, a 20-dB variable-gain driver amplifier and a low and stable local oscillator (LO) leakage up-conversion mixer in the transmitter path, and a high-isolation LO buffer. Very low power consumption (120 mW) is attained with a single 3-V supply voltage in receiver mode together with high transceiver performance. The key features and new circuit approaches in each function block are described in details. Measurement showed that a 5-GHz OFDM-modulated Tx signal meets IEEE802.11a standards.

[1]  Y. Aoki,et al.  A 1.4-dB-NF variable-gain LNA with continuous control for 2-GHz-band mobile phones using InGaP emitter HBTs , 2001, 2001 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Sympsoium Digest (Cat. No.01CH37157).

[2]  Sorin P. Voinigescu,et al.  5-GHz SiGe HBT monolithic radio transceiver with tunable filtering , 1999, RFIC 1999.

[3]  Y. Aoki,et al.  A 23/3-dB dual-gain low-noise amplifier for 5-GHz-band wireless applications , 2002, 24th Annual Technical Digest Gallium Arsenide Integrated Circuit (GaAs IC) Symposiu.

[4]  Sudipto Chakraborty,et al.  A 5.8 GHz OFDM GaAs MESFET MMIC chip set , 2000, 2000 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium Digest (Cat. No.00CH37017).

[5]  H. Ainspan,et al.  A 5.2 GHz 3.3 V I/Q SiGe RF transceiver , 1999, Proceedings of the IEEE 1999 Custom Integrated Circuits Conference (Cat. No.99CH36327).

[6]  T. Drenski,et al.  A 5-GHz-band multifunctional BiCMOS transceiver chip for GMSK modulation wireless systems , 1999 .

[7]  Ran-Hong Yan,et al.  5 GHz CMOS radio transceiver front-end chipset , 2000, 2000 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference. Digest of Technical Papers (Cat. No.00CH37056).