GSM Transceiver Front-End Circuits in 0.25 μm CMOS

So far, CMOS has been shown to be capable of operating at RF frequencies, although the inadequacies of the device-level performance often have to be circumvented by innovations at the architectural level that tend to shift the burden to the circuit building blocks operating at lower frequencies. The RF front-end circuits presented in this paper show that excellent RF performance is feasible with 0.25 μm CMOS, even in terms of the requirements of the tried-and-true superheterodyne architecture. Design for low noise and low current consumption targeted for GSM handsets noise figures, a double-balanced mixer with 12.6dB SSB NF, as well as sub-25mA current consumption for the RF front-end (complete receiver), are among the main achievements.