1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of direct conversion receivers for wireless communication.
2. Prior Art
High IIP2 (second order input intercept point) and low quadrature error are important requirements for direct conversion receivers to avoid distortion of the desired signal at low frequencies when converting directly from RF to baseband frequencies. In that regard, note that the IM2 (second order intermodulation) products also appear at zero IF. The IIP2 and quadrature error of current art mixers is generally not sufficient to make zero IF receivers possible without special calibration techniques. These techniques are undesirable because: (a) they may create a DC component which could block/overload the baseband, (b) they complicate and/or delay the start-up of the chip and end product (e.g. cellular phone), (c) they only work with a dedicated baseband chip, and (d) the performance over time and temperature may not be stable.
a is a circuit diagram of a preferred embodiment of the present invention local oscillator amplifier and mixer core.
b is a circuit diagram of an alternate embodiment of the present invention local oscillator amplifier and mixer core.
The present invention provides mixers with IIP2 and quadrature errors that are sufficiently low to make zero IF receivers possible without special calibration techniques. This simplifies the receiver, avoids circuit startup delay and provides more stable performance over time and temperature. The methodology to achieve this performance in preferred embodiments consists of as many as three elements: (a) a high power LO (local oscillator) buffer circuit capable of driving low impedance loads, (b) an optimized bias block for the mixer core and (c) two or more electronically programmable mixer quad sections.
The LO buffer and mixer core of the preferred embodiment is shown in
One alternate embodiment of LO buffer and mixer core of the present invention is shown in
The bias block for the mixer core of the embodiment of
The foregoing values are representative of one embodiment. However, generally it is preferred that at the frequency of interest, the resistor impedances be less than the base input impedance(s) connected to each resistor, and more preferably less than one half and still more preferably less than one fourth the base input impedance(s) connected to each resistor. It is also generally preferred that at the frequency of interest, the LO buffer output impedance be less than the impedance of the combination of resistors, taken alone (neglecting the base input impedance(s) connected thereto), and more preferably less than one half the impedance of the combination of resistors, taken alone, and still more preferably less than one fourth the impedance of the combination of resistors, taken alone.
Furthermore, by using four series capacitors C3 through C6, a given set of two base leads (base leads of transistors Q12 and Q15 or transistors Q13 and Q14) is AC coupled to the LO signal but are not connected DC wise. This also desensitizes the design to the impact of Vbe and beta mismatch in the mixer core.
The final technique employed in the preferred embodiment to minimize the impact of Vbe and/or beta mismatches in the mixer core is to increase the number of mixer quads (typically only one in current art mixers). During wafer sort, the quad with best IM2 is determined, after which it is programmed permanently by blowing a fuse and/or trim link. This improves the standard deviation of the IM2 by approximately 2× (for one additional quad). By integrating the push-pull power amplifier with each quad, no additional LO power is needed to achieve the same performance. Obviously more than two mixer cores could be used, further improving the standard deviation of the IM2.
A diagram illustrating a circuit for incorporating multiple LO buffers and mixer cores is shown in
The control logic also controls a one of n switch SWB that couples bias voltages to the LO amplifiers, specifically the bias voltages VRFCC and VRFLO shown in
The present invention improves the second order intermodulation and LO quadrature error significantly, enough to meet the requirements imposed on new emerging receiver topologies without requiring any calibration at start-up of the chip. In that regard, while certain preferred embodiments of the present invention have been disclosed and described herein for purposes of illustration and not for purposes of limitation, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and detail may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. The changes that one skilled in the art may make, among other changes, include the use of different types of transistors, such a MOS transistors, to name but one other type.
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