A monolithic 12-GHz heterodyne receiver for DVB-S applications in silicon bipolar technology

Abstract

A monolithic heterodyne receiver for digital video broadcasting via-satellite (DVB-S) applications is presented. The integrated circuit consists of a down-converter block and a phase-locked-loop-based local-oscillator synthesizer to translate the DVB-S RF-band (10.7-12.75 GHz) to an IF ranging in the -band (0.95-2.15 GHz). The receiver exhibits a conversion gain of 38 dB, a single-sideband noise figure of 7 dB, and an output 1-dB compression point of +5 dBm. A 2.2-GHz-wide voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) tuning range, extending from 8.6 to 10.8 GHz, is achieved adopting a transformer-based topology. The VCO phase noise is as low as 95 dBc/Hz at 100-kHz offset from a 10.6-GHz carrier. The integrated receiver draws 160 mA from a 3.3-V supply voltage. This paper demonstrates the feasibility of a -band DVB-S heterodyne receiver integrated in low-cost 46-GHzsilicon bipolar technology.

Integrated CMOS edge voltage quantizer for detection of low-frequency simple waveforms

“…Performance from previous work [2,3,11,12] is summarized and compared with that of our work in Table I. No details about integrated voltage/tone detector are presented in [6,7,8,9,10] and the reason could be that the discrete voltage/tone detector is utilized as in many cases. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this work presents the first low-cost integrated voltage/tone detector for LNB IC, with smallest silicon area, lowest current consumption, and best detection resolution.…”

“…In early years, LNB is constructed almost all by discrete components [6,7]. With the rapid development of semiconductor, more and more parts can be integrated in the same die [8,9,10]. In recent years the circuits for voltage/tone detection have also been integrated in a monolithic LNB IC [11,12] further cutting the cost.…”

A low power Ku phase locked oscillator in low cost 130 nm CMOS technology

“…This block is frequently built using discrete compound semiconductor High Electron Mobility Transistors (HEMT) and Dielectric Resonator Oscillators (DRO), as well. This discrete approach is expensive due to components, assembling operations, and the resonator manual tuning [1]. A silicon-based monolithic integrated receiver offers advantages in term of cost and size, specially when an integrated oscillator is used to replace the DRO.…”

“…Nevertheless, performance limitations of integrated solutions are still restricting this kind of solution for penetrating high frequency mass market applications such as Digital Video Broadcasting Satellite (DVB-S) [2]. Some efforts have led to several prototypes as a monolithic 0.8 µm bipolar technology Low Noise Block (LNB) by STMicroelectronics [1], and more recently, a 0.25 µm SiGe:C commercially available BiCMOS technology LNB reported by NXP Semiconductors [2]. Avoiding the use of bipolar transistors is of great interest as well, which is the aim of [3] and [4], where a 0.18 µm CMOS LNA/down-conversion mixer chain and a LNB, respectively are claimes.…”

Silicon-germanium ics for satellite microwave front-ends

“…The IC is packaged in a standard 24-pin HVQFN (leadless) plastic package, to facilitate assembly and ensure robustness in a mass-production environment. Previous articles in this area have not been assembled on a package, but wire-bonded to a PCB [7]. The IC consumes 120 mA from a nominal supply voltage of 3.3 V. No external inductive components are used.…”