Hamid R. Rategh

Superharmonic injection-locked frequency dividers

Injection-locked oscillators (ILOs) are investigated in a new theoretical approach. A first-order differential equation is derived for the noise dynamics of ILOs. A single-ended injection-locked frequency divider (SILFD) is designed in a 0.5-/spl mu/m CMOS technology operating at 1.8 GHz with more than 190 MHz locking range while consuming 3 mW of power. A differential injection-locked frequency divider (DILFD) is designed in a 0.5-/spl mu/m CMOS technology operating at 3 GHz and consuming 0.45 mW, with a 190 MHz locking range. A locking range of 370 MHz is achieved for the DILFD when the power consumption is increased to 1.2 mW.

A 5-GHz CMOS wireless LAN receiver front end

This paper presents a 12.4-mW front end for a 5-GHz wireless LAN receiver fabricated in a 0.24-/spl mu/m CMOS technology. It consists of a low-noise amplifier (LNA), mixers, and an automatically tuned third-order filter controlled by a low-power phase-locked loop. The filter attenuates the image signal by an additional 12 dB beyond what can be achieved by an image-reject architecture. The filter also reduces the noise contribution of the cascode devices in the LNA core. The LNA/filter combination has a noise figure of 4.8 dB, and the overall noise figure of the signal path is 5.2 dB. The overall IIP3 is -2 dBm.

A CMOS frequency synthesizer with an injection-locked frequency divider for a 5-GHz wireless LAN receiver

A fully integrated 5-GHz phase-locked loop (PLL) based frequency synthesizer is designed in a 0.24 /spl mu/m CMOS technology. The power consumption of the synthesizer is significantly reduced by using a tracking injection-locked frequency divider (ILFD) as the first frequency divider in the PLL feedback loop. On-chip spiral inductors with patterned ground shields are also optimized to reduce the VCO and ILFD power consumption and to maximize the locking range of the ILFD. The synthesizer consumes 25 mW of power of which only 3.8 mW is consumed by the VCO and the ILFD combined. The PLL has a bandwidth of 280 kHz and a phase noise of -101 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz offset frequency. The spurious sidebands at the center of adjacent channels are less than -54 dBc.

A unified model for injection-locked frequency dividers

Injection-locked frequency dividers (ILFDs) are versatile analog circuit blocks used, for example, within phase-locked loops (PLLs). An important attribute is substantially lower power consumption relative to their digital counterparts. The model described in this paper unifies the treatment of injection-locked and regenerative systems. It also provides useful design insights by clarifying the nature and role of the nonlinearity present in many mixer-based frequency conversion circuits. The utility of the model is demonstrated in the calculation of both the steady-state and dynamic properties of ILFD systems, and the subsequent computation of the corresponding phase noise spectrum. Illustrative circuit examples show close correspondence between theory and simulation. Finally, measurement results from a 5.4-GHz divide-by-2 ILFD fabricated in 0.24-/spl mu/m CMOS show close correspondence between experiment and theory.

5-GHz CMOS wireless LANs

This paper first provides an overview of some recently ratified wireless local-area network (WLAN) standards before describing an illustrative 5-GHz WLAN receiver implementation. The receiver, built in a standard 0.25-/spl mu/m CMOS logic technology, exploits several recent developments, including lateral-flux capacitors, accumulation-mode varactors, injection-locked frequency dividers, and an image-reject low-noise amplifier. The receiver readily complies with the performance requirements of both IEEE 802.11a and ETSI HiperLAN. It exhibits a 7.2-dB noise figure, as well as an input-referred third-order intercept and 1-dB compression point of -7 and -18 dBm, respectively. Image rejection for this double conversion receiver exceeds 50 dB throughout the frequency band without using external filters. Leakage out of the RF port from the local oscillators is under -87 dBm, and all synthesizer spurs are below the -70-dBm noise floor of the instrumentation used to measure them. The receiver consumes 59 mW from a 1.8-V supply and occupies only 4 mm/sup 2/ of die area, in no small measure due to the use of fractal capacitors for ac coupling.

A 115-mW, 0.5-/spl mu/m CMOS GPS receiver with wide dynamic-range active filters

This paper presents a 115-mW Global Positioning System radio receiver that is implemented in a 0.5-/spl mu/m CMOS technology. The receiver includes the complete analog signal path, comprising a low-noise amplifier, I-Q mixers, on-chip active filters, and 1-bit analog-digital converters. In addition, it includes a low-power phase-locked loop that synthesizes the first local oscillator. The receiver achieves a 2.8-dB noise figure (prelimiter), a 56-dB spurious-free dynamic range, and a 17-dB signal-to-noise ratio for a noncoherent digital back-end implementation when detecting a signal power of -130 dBm at the radio-frequency input.

Superharmonic injection locked oscillators as low power frequency dividers

Superharmonic injection locking is investigated in a new theoretical approach. Low power frequency dividers are designed using injection locked oscillators with cascode transistors. The Rockwell 0.5 /spl mu/m CMOS process is used to design a 3 mW injection locked frequency divider in the 1800 MHz frequency range. A 200 MHz maximum locking range is achieved in simulations. 2SC3302 Toshiba NPN transistors are also used to build a 1.75 mW injection locked frequency divider in the 800 MHz frequency range to verify the theory.

A 115 mW CMOS GPS receiver

The Global Positioning System (GPS) provides accurate positioning and timing information that is useful in many applications. In particular, portable consumer GPS applications require cheap compact low-power receivers. This 115 mW receiver, implemented in an analog 0.5 /spl mu/m CMOS technology, comprises the entire radio-frequency (RF) and analog sections in addition to the local oscillator (LO) frequency synthesizer and a pair of oversampled A/D converters.

A 12.4 mW CMOS front-end for a 5 GHz wireless-LAN receiver

This paper presents a 12.4 mW front-end for a 5 GHz wireless-LAN receiver fabricated in a 0.24 /spl mu/m CMOS technology. It consists of an LNA, mixers and an automatically tuned third-order filter controlled by a low-power PLL. The filter attenuates the image-signal by an additional 12 dB beyond what can be achieved by an image-reject architecture. The filter also reduces the noise contribution of the cascode devices in the LNA core. The LNA/filter combination has a noise figure of 4.8 dB and the overall noise figure of the signal path is 5.2 dB. The overall IIP3 is -2 dBm.

Low-power dividerless frequency synthesis using aperture phase detection

A phase-locked-loop (PLL)-based frequency synthesizer incorporating a phase detector that operates on a windowing technique eliminates the need for a frequency divider. This new loop architecture is applied to generate the 1.573-GHz local oscillator (LO) for a Global Positioning System receiver. The LO circuits in the locked mode consume only 36 mW of the total 115-mW receiver power, as a result of the power saved by eliminating the divider. The PLLs loop bandwidth is measured to he 6 MHz, with a reference spurious level of -47 dBc. The front-end receiver, including the synthesizer, is fabricated in a 0.5-/spl mu/m, triple-metal, single-poly CMOS process and operates on a 2.5-V supply.