imec, Renesas develop 28nm cmos rf receiver and a/d converter
1 min read
Belgian research centre imec and Renesas Electronics have developed the first multistandard rf receiver in 28nm cmos technology, as well as a 28nm a/d converter for such applications as LTE advanced and next-generation Wi-Fi.
The 28nm receiver is a linear software defined radio (SDR) operating from 400MHz up to 6GHz and supporting reconfigurable rf channel bandwidths of up to 100MHz. Novel design and architecture techniques are said to allow the receiver to operate from a 0.9V supply, while maintaining an out of band IIP3 figure of +5dBm. With noise as low as 1.8dB, the device occupies an active area of 0.6mm2 and consumes less than 40mW.
Meanwhile, the a/d converter – said to blendn novel digital calibration techniques with a new a/d conversion architecture – is a 410Msample/s dynamic 11bit pipelined SAR device. With a peak signal to noise distortion ratio of 59.8dB at 410Msample/s, the converter draws 2mW.
"High-volume consumer devices require advanced chip technology that is cost-effective," stated Joris Van Driessche, imec's reconfigurable radio program manager. "Along with Renesas, we are thrilled to continue to offer innovative solutions to the market. Our 28nm wireless receiver brings the electronics industry closer to the development and adoption of next generation wireless devices."
