Pietro Erratico

A sub-1-dB NF/spl plusmn/2.3-kV ESD-protected 900-MHz CMOS LNA

A sub-1-dB noise figure HBM ESD-protected [-3 kV, 2.3 kV] low noise amplifier (LNA) has been integrated in a 0.35-/spl mu/m RF CMOS process with on-chip inductors. The sensitivity of the LNA performances to the spread of parasitics associated with package and bondwire has been attenuated by using an inductive on-chip source degeneration. At 920 MHz and P/sub dc/=8.6 mW, the LNA features: noise figure NF=1 dB, input return loss=-8.5 dB, output return loss=-27 dB, power gain G/sub p/=13 dB, input IIP3=-1.5 dBm. At a power dissipation of 5 mW and 17.6 mW, a NF respectively equal to 1.2 dB and 0.85 dB is measured. The CMOS LNA takes 12 pins of a TQFP48 package, an area of 1.0/spl times/0.66 mm/sup 2/ (bondwire pads excluded) and it is the first HBM ESD-protected [-3 kV, 2.3 kV] CMOS LNA to break the 1-dB NF barrier.

A VLSI low power solution for mobile satellite radio receivers

Two ICs have been implemented as part of a mobile digital satellite radio receiver. An RF front-end stage makes a superheterodyne frequency conversion from L band to 1.84 MHz IF, with a high level of integration, i.e only a SAW filter outside the chip. A fully digital channel decoder receives the IF signal from the RF front-end and converts it by means of an integrated 6-bit half flash A/D converter. Its main functions are a QPSK demodulator, a Viterbi decoder, a Reed-Solomon decoder, a deinterleaver and TDM extraction. The analogue input signal carrier is 1.84 MHz while the maximum chip frequency is about 10 MHz in order to optimize power consumption. Output data are transferred using a serial interface at a maximum rate of 128 kbit/s, The channel decoder is implemented using a five-metal layer CMOS 0.35 /spl mu/m process, complexity is 1.5 million transistors, dissipating 50 mW with die size of 23 mm/sup 2/. For the RF front-end, implemented in a 20 GHz bipolar process, die size is 16 mm/sup 2/, power consumption is about 200 mW, and includes on-chip low noise amplifier, 3.6 GHz oscillator and two PLL loops.

Vlsi solutions for voice and channel coders

In the last few years we have seen a relevant transformation of the telephone network, with an extensive digitalization of the voice transmission and switching able now to reach the subscriber. In the meanwhile various techniques have been implemented to exploit data transmission in an environment designed for voice only. This paper will review this important transformation and its future perspective from the point of view of theic industry by considering several analog/digital basic realization inpcm, analog modem,isdn and radio-communication fields.RésuméLes dernières années ont été caractérisées par une transformation significative des réseaux téléphoniques, avec numérisation de plus en plus grande de la transmission et de la commutation jusqu’ à ľabonné lui-même. En même temps, des techniques variées ont été mises en place pour exploiter la transmission de données dans un environnement jusqu’ici conçu pour la voix. Ľarticle prend en compte cette transformation et ses conséquences futures dans le domaine de ľIndustrie microélectronique, en s’appuyant sur plusieurs réalisations concrètes de circuits analogiques et numériques dans le domaine dumic (codec à capacités commutées, joncteur ďabonné à processeur de signal), des modems analogiques, durnis (numérisation de la ligne ďabonné) et des radiocommunications avec les mobiles (traitement du signal vocal en bande de base).