• International journal of advanced smart convergence
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.81-88
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• 2021

This paper proposes two types of subharmonic RF receiver front-end (called LMV) where, in a single stage, quadrature voltage-controlled oscillator (QVCO) is stacked on top of a low noise amplifier. Since the QVCO itself plays the role of the single-balanced subharmonic mixer with the dc current reuse technique by stacking, the proposed topology can remove the RF mixer component in the RF front-end and thus reduce the chip size and the power consumption. Another advantage of the proposed topologies is that many challenges of the direct conversion receiver can be easily evaded with the subharmonic mixing in the QVCO itself. The intermediate frequency signal can be directly extracted at the center taps of the two inductors of the QVCO. Using a 65 nm complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology, the proposed subharmonic RF front-ends are designed. Oscillating at around 2.4 GHz band, the proposed subharmonic LMVs are compared in terms of phase noise, voltage conversion gain and double sideband noise figure. The subharmonic LMVs consume about 330 ㎼ dc power from a 1-V supply.

• International Journal of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.122-128
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• 2023

This paper proposes two kinds of single-balanced direct conversion quadrature receivers using selfoscillating LMVs in which the voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) itself operates as a mixer while generating an oscillation. The two LMVs are complementary coupled and series coupled to generate the quadrature oscillating signals, respectively. Using a 65 nm CMOS technology, the proposed quadrature receivers are designed and simulated. Oscillating at around 2.4 GHz frequency, the complementary coupled quadrature receiver achieves the phase noise of -28 dBc/Hz at 1KHz offset and -109 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz offset frequency. The other series coupled receiver achieves the phase noise of -31 dBc/Hz at 1KHz offset and -109 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz offset frequency. The simulated voltage conversion gain of the two single-balanced receivers is 37 dB and 45 dB, respectively. The double-sideband noise figure of the two receivers is 5.3 dB at 1 MHz offset. The quadrature receivers consume about 440 μW dc power from a 1.0-V supply.

• International journal of advanced smart convergence
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.12-23
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• 2021

This paper proposes a low power radio frequency receiver front-end where, in a single stage, single-balanced mixer and voltage-controlled oscillator are stacked on top of low noise amplifier and re-use the dc current to reduce the power consumption. In the proposed topology, the voltage-controlled oscillator itself plays the dual role of oscillator and mixer by exploiting a series inductor-capacitor network. Using a 65 nm complementary metal oxide semiconductor technology, the proposed radio frequency front-end is designed and simulated. Oscillating at around 2.4 GHz frequency band, the voltage-controlled oscillator of the proposed radio frequency front-end achieves the phase noise of -72 dBc/Hz, -93 dBc/Hz, and -113 dBc/Hz at 10KHz, 100KHz, and 1 MHz offset frequency, respectively. The simulated voltage conversion gain is about 25 dB. The double-side band noise figure is -14.2 dB, -8.8 dB, and -7.3 dB at 100 KHz, 1 MHz and 10 MHz offset. The radio frequency front-end consumes only 96 ㎼ dc power from a 1-V supply.