An Ultra Low-Voltage RF Front-end Receiver for IoT Devices

Abstract

This paper presents the design of an RF receiver front-end for IoT application, integrating a low noise amplifier (LNA) and an active mixer. The circuit is designed in 28-nm FDSOI technology, to operate on the ISM 2.4-2.5 GHz band. The inductor-less LNA exploits the parasitic package inductance as resonant load, limiting chip area and costs. The receiver, designed for the stringent requirements of the application, operates with a voltage supply of 0.35 V, and it exhibits in simulation a power consumption below 45 μW. Besides, it achieves a voltage gain of 27.4 dB, a Third Order Input Intercept Point (IIP3) of -26.8dBm, and a noise Figure (NF) of 12.8 dB, with an intermediate frequency (FI) of 2 MHz. The small area of only 0.0021 mm2, combined with the low power consumption and operating voltage, makes the proposed RF receiver well-suited for the IoT application domain.