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A 6.2 mW 0.024 mm2 fully-passive RF downconverter with 12 dB gain enhancement using MOS parametric amplification

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Abstract

This paper describes a fully-passive discrete-time switched-capacitor RF downconverter with an on-chip oscillator, that combines quadrature mixing and harmonic rejection, designed in a 130 nm digital CMOS technology. By using MOS capacitors (varactors) to perform parametric amplification, it is possible to achieve a measured gain enhancement of about 12 dB, together with 21 dB noise figure and more than 5 dBm IIP3. Operating in the VHF-III band, the downconverter core dissipates 6.2 mW and occupies 0.024 mm2.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (CTS multiannual funding through project PEst-OE/EEI/ UI0066/2011, project IMPACT (PTDC/EEA-ELC/101421/2008), and project DISRUPTIVE (EXCL/EEI-ELC/0261/2012).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Sciences and Technology (FCT), Centre for Technology and Systems (CTS of Uninova), Universidade Nova de Lisboa (UNL), Lisbon, Portugal

    J. R. Custódio, I. Bastos, L. B. Oliveira, J. P. Oliveira & J. Goes

  2. Instituto Politécnico de Castelo Branco (IPCB), INESC-ID, Lisboa, Portugal

    P. Pereira

  3. Department of Electrical Engineering, Technical University of Denmark (DTU), 2800, Lyngby, Denmark

    E. Bruun

Authors
  1. J. R. Custódio
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  2. I. Bastos
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  3. L. B. Oliveira
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  4. J. P. Oliveira
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  5. P. Pereira
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  6. J. Goes
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  7. E. Bruun
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to L. B. Oliveira.

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Custódio, J.R., Bastos, I., Oliveira, L.B. et al. A 6.2 mW 0.024 mm2 fully-passive RF downconverter with 12 dB gain enhancement using MOS parametric amplification. Analog Integr Circ Sig Process 75, 299–304 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10470-013-0049-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10470-013-0049-3

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