A fully integrated transformer-based front-end architecture for wireless transceivers

摘要

As wireless transceivers for standards such as Bluetooth and 802.11 become more prevalent, the need for lower-cost solutions becomes increasingly important. In this paper, a fully integrated RF front-end architecture is presented; it offers a good RF performance, while requiring no off-chip components. This design uses one on-chip transformer to perform the functions of matching, single-ended to differential conversion, and transmit/receive (T/R) switching. While this architecture can be used in many time division duplex systems, the focus of this paper is on CMOS implementations for the Bluetooth standard.