J. Semicond. > 2015, Volume 36 > Issue 10 > 105009
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SEMICONDUCTOR INTEGRATED CIRCUITS

An inductorless multi-mode RF front end for GNSS receiver in 55 nm CMOS

Yanbin Luo1, , Chengyan Ma1, Yebing Gan1, 2, Min Qian1, 2 and Tianchun Ye1

+ Author Affiliations

 Corresponding author: Luo Yanbin, luoyanbin@casic.ac.cn

DOI: 10.1088/1674-4926/36/10/105009

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Abstract: An inductorless multi-mode RF front end for a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receiver is presented.Unlike the traditional topology of a low noise amplifier (LNA), the inductorless current-mode noisecanceling LNA is applied in this design.The high-impedance-input radio frequency amplifier (RFA) further amplifies the GNSS signals and changes the single-end signal path into fully differential.The passive mixer downconverts the signals to the intermediate frequency (IF) band and conveys the signals to the analogue blocks.The local oscillator (LO) buffer divides the output frequency of the voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) and generates 25%-duty-cycle quadrature square waves to drive the mixer.Our measurement results display that the implemented RF front end achieves good overall performance while consuming only 6.7 mA from 1.2 V supply.The input return loss is better than-26 dB and the ultra low noise figure of 1.43 dB leads to high sensitivity of the GNSS receiver.The input 1 dB compression point is-43 dBm at the high gain of 48 dB.The designed circuit is fabricated in 55 nm CMOS technology and the die area, which is much smaller than traditional circuit, is around 220×280 μm2.

Key words: RF front end, noise figure (NF), input matching, linearity, GNSS receiver



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Fig. 1.  Block diagram of the GNSS receiver.

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Fig. 2.  The current-mode noise-canceling LNA.

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Fig. 3.  The simplified noise model of the LNA without PMOS transistors.

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Fig. 4.  The simplified small-signal analysis of the LNA.

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Fig. 5.  The simulated results of LNA with different process corners against temperature. (a) Noise figure. (b) Input $S$-parameter $S_{11}$.

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Fig. 6.  The proposed circuit of the RFA.

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Fig. 7.  The simplified schematic of the current-driven mixer.

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Fig. 8.  The proposed schematic of LO buffer.

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Fig. 9.  The operation principle of the LO buffer,(a) $\Phi$ $=$ 1,(b) $\Phi$ $=$ 0,(c) output waveforms of the VCO,divider and buffer.

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Fig. 10.  The chip microphotograph.

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Fig. 11.  The measured input $S$-parameter ($S_{11})$.

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Fig. 12.  The measured and simulated NF of the RF front end.

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Fig. 13.  The measured ICP$_{\rm 1\,dB}$ at high gain and low gain.

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Table 1.   Performance summary and comparison with published works.

Parameter Reference [13] (2006) Reference [14] (2010) Reference [15] (2011) Reference [16] (2011) This work
Global positioning GPS GNSS GPS GNSS GNSS
$V_{\rm dd}$ (V) 1.2 1.8 0.25 1.8 1.2
$P_{\rm DC}$ (mW) 5.4 16 0.352 18 8
NF (dB) 4.8 2.0 7.2 2.6 1.43
$S_{11}$ (dB) -20 -23 -16 -14 -26
Power gain (dB) 36 33.8 41.8 65 48
ICP$_{\rm 1dB}$ (dBm) -31 -23 -48 -39** -43
Chip area (mm$^{2})$ 1.5* 1.327 $\times$ 0.836 2.4 $\times$ 2.4* 0.5 0.22 $\times$ 0.28
Technology (nm) 130 180 130 180 55
Including the area of PLL. **Measured at a gain of 39 dB evaluated from the reference.
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    Received: 20 March 2015 Revised: Online: Published: 01 October 2015

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      Article Navigation >  Journal of Semiconductors  > 2015  >  36(10): 105009
      Yanbin Luo, Chengyan Ma, Yebing Gan, Min Qian, Tianchun Ye. An inductorless multi-mode RF front end for GNSS receiver in 55 nm CMOS[J]. Journal of Semiconductors, 2015, 36(10): 105009. doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/36/10/105009 ****Y B Luo, C Y Ma, Y B Gan, M Qian, T C Ye. An inductorless multi-mode RF front end for GNSS receiver in 55 nm CMOS[J]. J. Semicond., 2015, 36(10): 105009. doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/36/10/105009.
      Citation:
      Yanbin Luo, Chengyan Ma, Yebing Gan, Min Qian, Tianchun Ye. An inductorless multi-mode RF front end for GNSS receiver in 55 nm CMOS[J]. Journal of Semiconductors, 2015, 36(10): 105009. doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/36/10/105009 ****
      Y B Luo, C Y Ma, Y B Gan, M Qian, T C Ye. An inductorless multi-mode RF front end for GNSS receiver in 55 nm CMOS[J]. J. Semicond., 2015, 36(10): 105009. doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/36/10/105009.
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      An inductorless multi-mode RF front end for GNSS receiver in 55 nm CMOS

      DOI: 10.1088/1674-4926/36/10/105009
      • 1.

        Institute of Microelectronics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China

      • 2.

        Hangzhou Zhongke Microelectronics Co. Ltd., Hangzhou 310053, China

      More Information
      • Corresponding author: Luo Yanbin, luoyanbin@casic.ac.cn
      • Received Date: 2015-03-20
      • Accepted Date: 2015-05-20
      • Published Date: 2015-01-25

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