chameleon: a dual-mode bluetooth/wifi receiver design

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Chameleon: A Dual-Mode Bluetooth/WiFi Receiver Design

Ahmed Emira, Alberto Valdes-Garcia, Bo Xia, Ahmed Mohieldin, Ari Valero-Lopez, Sung Tae Moon and Chunyu Xin.

Faculty Advisor: Dr. Edgar Sánchez-Sinencio

Analog & Mixed-Signal Center (AMSC) Texas A&M University

IEEE CAS SocietyChapter at Dallas, Texas

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Outline• Previous work: Bluetooth Receiver in CMOS 0.35µm

• System Level Design– Technology features– Main Bluetooth and Wi-Fi specs– Previously reported architectures– Proposed dual-mode architecture– Impact of non-idealities on the BER performance

• Building Blocks– LNA– Mixer– VCO and PLL– VGA– ADC

• Experimental Results

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0.35µm CMOS Bluetooth Low-IF Receiver IC

PLL

LNA

I

QRF filter

PolyphaseFilter

Demodulator

OffsetCancellation

/Decision

2.4GHz 2MHz

Developed during 2001 and 2002 at the AMSC.

Authors: Wenjun Sheng, Bo Xia,Ahmed Emira, ChunyuXin, Ari Ari Valero-Lopez, Sung Tae Moon and Edgar Sanchez-Sinencio.

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• Publications:– 2002 RFIC Conference, Best Student Paper Award (third place).

– Journal of Solid-State Circuits: January 2003 (Receiver) and August 2003 (Demodulator).

– Transactions on Circuits and Systems – II: November 2003 (Complex Filter).

0.35µm CMOS Bluetooth Low-IF Receiver IC

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Chameleon Receiver: Timeline

802.11b/Bluetooth standards study

Dual-mode architectures survey

Baseband BER simulations

Rx System Specifications

Building Block Specifications

Circuit Level Design

Layout and Chip Submission

PCB Design for Block and System Testing

Block and System Testing

Paper Submission to ISSCC

Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3

2002 2003Phase

Spring Summer Fall Spring Summer Fall

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Chameleon Receiver• Previous work: Bluetooth Receiver in CMOS 0.35µm




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Technology features

• IBM SiGe BiCMOS 6HP 0.25um• Transit frequency (fT) 47GHz• 6 aluminum metal layers• Analog metal (4um thick, 0.00725 Ω/ )• Varactor diode (intrinsic base-collector diode)• Metal to metal cap (1.4fF/um2)• MOS cap (3.1 15%fF/um2)• Poly resistors (210 20%, 3600 25% Ω/ )

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Standards Overview

2.4 – 2.48GHz2.4 – 2.48GHzFreq band

DSSS-CCKFH-GFSKModulation

HigherLowerPower

1-11Mb/s1Mb/sData rate

802.11bBluetooth

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Dual-Mode Receiver Architecture

• 3 possible alternatives for Bluetooth and Wi-Fi dual mode architectures:

Area and power ↓

Sharing ↑

DC offset & 1/f noise ↑

Low-IF and DCR

Best fit for each standard Sharing ↓

Power ↑

Sharing ↓

Low-IF and Low-IF DCR and DCR

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Previously Reported Dual-Mode Receivers

• DCR for WiFi, low-IF for Bluetooth.• Shared RF front-end.• Separate baseband circuits

Fractional-NSynthesizer

BT/802.11b

SEL

Demod

802.11b

BT

ClockGenerator

I

Q

I

Q

LNA

[1] J. C. H. Darabi, et al "A Dual Mode 802.11b/Bluetooth Radio in 0.35mm CMOS," ISSCC 2003, San Francisco, CA.

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• Double downconversion to avoid LO self mixing and injection locking between PA and VCO.

• DCR for Wi-Fi and low-IF for Bluetooth.• Shared RF and programmable dual-mode baseband.

802.11b

LNA

LO2-I

LO2-QLO1

BTBT

802.11b

I

Q

[2] D. K. T. Cho, et al "A 2.4Ghz Dual-Mode 0.18mm CMOS Transceiver for Bluetooth and 802.11b," ISSCC 2003, San Francisco, CA.

Previously Reported Dual-Mode Receivers

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Proposed Dual-Mode Architecture

Direct-conversion BT/WiFi receiver architecture

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Remarks• Direct-conversion architecture is used for both

standards to save power and avoid the image problem in IF architectures.

• LNA & Mixer are shared between BT and Wi-Fi.• Gm-C LPF with programmable bandwidth is used to

accommodate both standards.• Parallel Pipeline ADC architecture is used:

– BT: sampling rate = 11MHz, 11bits– Wi-Fi: sampling rate 44MHz, 8bits

• Due to the short allowed settling time, the VGA has only two gain steps in BT mode and the signal level at the ADC input will vary by 24dB.

• In Wi-Fi mode, gain steps of 2dB are employed.

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Impact of DC offset and DC offset correction on the BER performance (Wi-Fi mode)

A: 0 offset. B: 5% offset, C: 10% offset, D: 15% offset E: offset cancelled with 4 HP poles at 5KHz, F: offset cancelled with 4 HP poles at 10KHz.

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Wi-Fi Interferer Rejection Requirements

• In the presence of a modulated interferer at 25MHz with a power 35dB above the signal of interest, the receiver should show 1E-5 BER for an SNR 6dB above the minimum sensitivity.

• The channel selection filter should reject an strong interferer while not affecting the spectrum of interest.

30

20

10

0

-10

-20

-30

-40

-50

-60

5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45

Frequency [MHz]

Sig

nal P

ower

[dB

]

Modulated Inteferer

Desired Signal

Filter Response

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Impact of the channel selection filter characteristics on the BER performance (Wi-Fi mode)

• 5th order Butterworth filter with fC=5.5MHz with (B) and without an interferer (A).

• 4th Chebyshev filter with fc=6MHz with (D) and without an interferer (C).

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Impact of the mismatch between I and Q channels on the BER performance (Wi-Fi mode)

• A: Receiver performance including channel selection filter and DC offset correction.

• B: Performance with a 10º error in the generation of I and Q signals.• C: Performance with 1.5dB gain mismatch between I and Q

channels in addition to the phase error.

Required Receiver SNR

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Adjacent Channel Test

LNA Mixer Filter VGA ADC-70

-60

-50

-40

-30

-20

-10

0

10Adjacent channel test in Bluetooth mode

Sig

nal l

evel

in d

Bm

Signal levelInterferer level

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NF, IIP3, and IIP2 contributions

Mixer

Filter

LNA+VGA+ADC

IIP2 contributions of different blocks

LNA

Mixer

Filter

IIP3 contributions of different blocks

LNA

Mixer

Filter

VGAADC

Noise contributions of different blocks

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Power consumption and area contributions

LNA/Mixer

PLL

Filter

VGA

ADC

Area contributions of different blocksin WiFi mode

LNA/Mixer

PLL Filter

VGA

ADC

Power consumption contributions of differentblocks in WiFi mode

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Low Noise Amplifier

• Gain = 15/-15dB

• NMOS drive is used for better linearity.

• Cm ensures matching in low-gain mode.

Ls Ls

LdLdLNA bypass switches and attenuator

LNA_rf_biasi_tail

CmVin+

Vin- M1 M2

M5

M6

M7

M8

M9

M3 M4

Q1 Q2

Rb Rb

Bond wire

Cd Cd

Vbb

Rb Rb

Cm

LNA_cas_bias

Vo+

Vo-

VDD

LNA_bypass

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I/Q Downconversion Mixer

• I & Q share the same RF drive stage• NMOS drive for better linearity• NPN switch to reduce LO drive and 1/f noise

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Frequency Synthesizer• VCO running at 2fo• I/Q generation using divide-by-2 flip flop.• Capacitor multiplier to integrate loop filter cap.

fref = 2MHz

4.9GHz

2

2.45GHz

CP PFD

2 2 2

mux

4

4 2 Programmable

Divider

15/16 Prescaler

ChannelSelection

C1=340pFC2=26pFVCO R1=52kΩΩΩΩBuffer

I

QToMixers

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Phase Switching Prescaler

fin / 4fin

÷ 2IQIQ

fin / 2

5 GHz 2.5 GHz1.25 GHz

To RF Mixers

625 MHz

÷ 2IQIQ

FrequencyControl

÷ 2

ModulusControl

÷ Nfout

IQIQ

÷ 2

FrequencyControl

fin / 8

/2

/2

/2

/2

/2

IQIQ

• Phase switching prescaler for reduced powerconsumption compared with traditional architectures.

• No feedback in flip-flops.

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Charge PumpVdd

Vdd

35 µµµµA

UP

DWN

Iout

VbiasN

VbiasP

Cascode current mirrors minimize the current mismatch in Up and Dwn operation.

VDD

UP

DWN

D Q

CLR

D Q

CLR

"1"

"1"

Div

Ref

Out

Charge PumpPFD

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Capacitance Multiplier

Total Current: 150 µµµµA

10

+=

Mz

zin

Vdd

C

5 µµµµA

VbiasN

VbiasPIin

1:25

1:25

M1

M2

M4

M3

A

B

Biasing

MC

1/Mgm1

1/Mgm1<<R1

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VCO

• LC tuned negative-gm VCO• Analog metal inductor• Varactor diode• DC-decoupling for driver

base to improve linearity and noise

• Bypass capacitor improves phase noise 2dB

• L=1.5nH, Q=13

Vc

Vb

Ib

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Channel Selection Filter• 5th order Butterworth OTA-C filter.• Passive 1st pole is used to relax the biquad (OTA)

linearity requirements.• Programmable bandwidth through switching R&C.

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Biquadratic Section

_

+

+_

_

+

+

_

_

+

+

_

_

+

+_

Vin+

Vin-

VBP1+

VBP1-

VLP1-

VLP1+

CM

Info

rmat

ion

CM

Info

rmat

ion

gm3 gm2 gm1 gm1

C

C

C

C

+

-

Vref+

-

Vref

Vbias Vbias

Direct connection between consecutive OTAs in the filter is exploited in the implementation of the CMFB circuit.

2

1

m

m

gg

Q =C

gm10 =ω

VDD

Ibias

M2

M1M1

VCMFB

VDD

IDC

VCM

M2

VDD VDD

VrefMS MS

MA MA

IDC

VDC=1.6V

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Dual-mode OTA

- Source degeneration- Current scaling Ibias×R=constant

- The standard is chosen by switching R (coarse tuning)- Fine frequency tuning using bank of capacitors C

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Variable Gain Amplifier

• 0-62dB gain, 2dB steps in Wi-Fi• 0/24dB (one stage) gain in Bluetooth• RC HPFs used to reject dc offset• VGA stage with constant output offset

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Constant output offset VGA

• The gain is controlled by d:

• The output offset is independent of d.

• This assumes that the offset in Vi is completely removed by the RC HPF.

• Problem: G11 and G12 will load the HPF we have to use a buffer at each input resistor

G2

G11

VOS

ViVi

G12d

2

1211

GdGG

Gain+=

OSVG

GGoffsetoutput

2

1211 +=

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Constant output offset VGA, Cont’d

• A buffer is used to drive eachinput resistor.

• The feedback factor isindependent of the gain. This makes the OpAmp designeasier.

• Bandwidth and phase marginare independent of the gain.

• Note that the capacitor C does not load the previous stage since it is in series.

• However, the parasitic capacitance of the top and bottom plates to ground will load the previous stage!

G2

G11Vi

Vo

G12d

bufferC

R

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Time-Interleaved Pipeline ADC

• Programmable resolution and sampling rate.

• On line digital calibration.

Dig

italC

orre

ctio

n

SHAVin

4 bit 3 bit 4 bit 3 bit


Dig

ital

Cor

rect

ion

SHAVin


Bluetooth Mode11bit - 11MS/s

11-bit

&M

ultip

lexe

r

Dig

italC

orre

ctio

n&

Mul

tiple

xer

SHAVin

4 bit 3 bit 4 bit

4 bit 3 bit 4 bit802.11b Mode8bits - 44MS/s

9-bit

DACADC

-+G

MDACSub-ADC

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Receiver Die Photo

5.6mm

3.8mm

Deep Trench Isolation

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Testing Board

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Receiver Sensitivity

Bluetooth = -91dBm Wi-Fi (11Mb/s) = -86.5dBm

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Receiver Linearity

-50 -45 -40 -35 -30 -25 -20 -15 -10-80

-60

-40

-20

0

20

40

60

2-Tone Input Power [dBm]

Out

put [

dBm

]

IIP3

-60 -50 -40 -30 -20 -10 0 10 20

-60

-40

-20

0

20

40

60

80

2-Tone Input Power [dBm]

Out

put [

dBm

]

IIP2

IIP3 = -13dBmIIP2 = 10dBm

Both BT / Wi-Fi modes

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LO Phase Noise

-124 dBc/Hz @ 3MHz

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LPF Programmability

BT Wi-Fi

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64.2 dB at 11MSample/s for the 550 kHz BT signal

59.7 dB at 44MSample/s for the 5.5 MHz 802.11b signal

SNR Measurement for ADCBT Wi-Fi

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Comparison Table

2.5V1.8V2.7VSupply voltage

10mm2----ADC area (w/ pads)

9mm2 (w/o ADC)16mm2 (transceiver)N/ARx area (w/ pads)

10dBm20dBmN/AN/AIIP2

-13dBm-12dBm-8dBm-7dBmIIP3

15.6mA13.4mA----ADC active current

30mA (w/o ADC)

27.9mA (w/o ADC)

60mA65mA46mARx active current

0.25µµµµm BiCMOS0.18 µµµµm CMOS0.35 µµµµm CMOSTechnology

-86dBm-91dBm-92dBm (0dB SNR)-80dBm-88dBm-82dbmSensitivity

6MHz (LPF)600kHz (LPF)7.5MHz (LPF)1MHz (BPF)7.5MHz (LPF)1MHz (BPF)Filter bandwidth

IncludedNot includedNot includedADC

SharedsharedseparateBaseband amplifier

ProgrammableprogrammableseparateChannel select filter

AC couplingInjection at AGC inputProgrammable loopOffset cancellation

DCRDCRDCRLow-IFDCRLow-IFReceiver Architecture

Wi-FiBTWiFiBTWiFiBT

This design[2][1]

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Summary• Direct conversion architecture for BT / Wi-Fi

allows maximum level of block sharing• Lower consumption than previous dual-mode

implementations (27.9 mA / 30mA)• Shared RF front-end and programmable

baseband components• Programmable channel selection filter with

constant linearity• AC coupled VGA with constant output offset• On-chip time interleaved pipeline ADC

chameleon: a dual-mode bluetooth/wifi receiver design

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