A Current Bleeding CMOS Mixer Featuring <i>LO</i>Amplification Based on Current-Reused Topology

A double balanced Gilbert-cell class-A amplifier bleeding mixer (DBGC CAAB mixer) is proposed and implemented. The injection current is utilized to amplify the local oscillator (LO) signal to improve the performance of the transconductor stage. The DBGC CAAB mixer achieves a conversion gain of 17.5 dB at -14 dBm LO power, and the noise figure is suppressed from 45 dB to 10.7 dB. It is important to stress that the new configuration will not drain additional power in contrast to the former current bleeding mixers. This topology dramatically relieves the requirement of the LO power. The DBGC CAAB mixer is implemented by using 0.18-μm RFCMOS technology and operates at the 2.4 GHz ISM application with 10 MHz intermediate frequency. The power consumption is 12 mA at 1.5 V supply voltage. The DBGC CAAB mixer features the highest FOM figure within a wide range of LO power.

Fully-integrated ultra-wide band LNA in 0.18μm CMOS technology for 3-10 GHz applications

The paper presents a fully integrated ultra-wide band(UWB)low noise amplifier(LNA)for 3-10 GHz applications.It employs self-biased resistive-feedback and current-reused technique to achieve wide input matching and low power characteristics.An improved biased architecture is adopted in the second stage to attain a better gain-compensation performance.The design is verified with TSMC standard 1 P6 M 0.18μm RF CMOS process.The measurement results show that the parasitic problem of the transistors at high frequencies is solved.A high and flat S21 of 9.7±1.5 dB and the lowest NF 3.5 dB are achieved in the desired frequency band.The power consumption is only 7.5 mA under 1.6 V supply.The proposed LNA achieves broadband flat gain,low noise,and high linearity performance simultaneously,allowing it to be used in 3-10 GHz UWB applications.

A wideband LC-VCO for MMMS applications

A fully integrated wideband voltage-controlled-oscillator(VCO) based on current-reused topology is presented. The overall scheme contains two sub-VCOs, which are controlled by a switch to cover a wide output frequency range. Fabricated in TSMC 65 nm CMOS technology, the measured output frequency of the VCO ranges from 3.991 GHz to 9.713 GHz,achieving a tuning range of 83.5%. And the worst and best phase noise at 1 MHz offset are-93.09 dBc/Hz and-111.97 dBc/Hz, respectively. With a 1.2 V supply voltage, the VCO core consumes a current of 3.7-5.1 mA across the entire frequency range. The chip area is 0.51 mm^2, including the pads. Moreover, the proposed VCO provides a figure-of-merit-with-tuning-range(FOM_T) of-191 dBc/Hz to-197 dBc/Hz.

A 3.125-Gb/s inductorless transimpedance amplifier for optical communication in 0.35μm CMOS

A 3.125-Gb/s transimpedance amplifier（TIA） for an optical communication system is realized in 0.35μm CMOS technology.The proposed TIA employs a regulated cascode configuration as the input stage, and adopts DC-cancellation techniques to stabilize the DC operating point.In addition,noise optimization is processed. The on-wafer measurement results show the transimpedance gain of 54.2 dBΩand -3 dB bandwidth of 2.31 GHz.The measured average input referred noise current spectral density is about 18.8 pA/（？）.The measured eye diagram is clear and symmetrical for 2.5-Gb/s and 3.125-Gb/s PRBS.Under a single 3.3-V supply voltage,the TIA consumes only 58.08 mW,including 20 mW from the output buffer.The whole die area is 465×435μm^2.

A low voltage low power up-conversion mixer for WSN application

This paper presents an up-conversion mixer for 2.4-2.4835 GHz wireless sensor networks （WSN） in 0.18 μm RF CMOS technology. It was based on a double-balanced Gilbert cell type, with two Gilbert cells having quadrature modulation applied. Current-reuse and cross positive feedback techniques were applied in the mixer to boost conversion gain; the current source stage was removed from the mixer to improve linearity. Measured results exhibited that under a 1 V power supply, the conversion gain was 5 dB, the input referred 1 dB compression point was -11 dBm and the IIP3 was -0.75 dBm, while it only consumed 1.4 mW.

Dedicated SiPM array for GRD of GECAM

Purpose The discovery of gravitational waves and gamma-ray bursts heralds the era of multi-messenger astronomy.With the adoption of two small satellites to achieve the all-sky monitoring of gamma-ray bursts,the gravitational wave highenergy electromagnetic counterpart all-sky monitor(GECAM)possesses a quasi-real-time early warning ability and plays an important role in positioning the sources of gravitational waves and in subsequent observations.Each satellite of GECAM was fitted with 253-inch-diameter gamma-ray detectors(GRD),covering an energy range of 8–2 MeV.GRDs have adopted silicon photomultiplier tubes(SiPM)in lieu of photomultiplier tubes(PMT)to adapt to the dimensional limitations of micro-satellites.Methods A unique 3-inch circular SiPM array was designed.In this design,646×6 mm chips were arranged evenly in a circular manner with the seams filled with reflecting films,thus achieving satisfactory uniformity of light collection.The integrated pre-amplifier circuit on the back of the SiPM array adopted two-level grouping and summing;further,it achieved a satisfactory signal-to-noise ratio.Two high-gain and low-gain channels were adopted to achieve a large dynamic range,and two independent power supply units were used,where each unit can be closed separately,thus improving reliability.Results Performance studies show that this SiPM array meets the requirements of GECAM.Conclusion A 3-inch SiPM array have been developed that uses grouped summation,reflective films,a circular arrangement,two groups of independent power supplies,high-and low-gain signals,differential signal output technologies,etc.This solution can be used not only for GECAM,but also as a general solution for SiPM-based scintillation detectors.

A hearing aid on-chip system based on accuracy optimized front-and back-end blocks

A hearing aid on-chip system based on accuracy optimized front- and back-end blocks is presented for enhancing the signal processing accuracy of the hearing aid. Compared with the conventional system, the accuracy optimized system is characterized by the dual feedback network and the gain compensation technique used in the front-andback-endblocks,respectively,soastoalleviatethenonlinearitydistortioncausedbytheoutputswing.By usingthetechnique,theaccuracyofthewholehearingaidsystemcanbesignificantlyimproved.Theprototypechip has been designed with a 0.13 m standard CMOS process and tested with 1 V supply voltage. The measurement results show that, for driving a 16 loudspeaker with a normalized output level of 300 mV p-p, the total harmonic distortion reached about60 dB, achieving at least three times reduction compared to the previously reported works. In addition, the typical input referred noise is only about 5 υV rms.