A Bluetooth low-energy (BLE) transceiver with TX/RX switchable on-chip matching network, 2.75mW high-IF discrete-time receiver, and 3.6mW all-digital transmitter

Abstract

We present a new ultra-low-power (ULP) transceiver for Internet-of-Things (IoT) optimized for 28-nm CMOS. The receiver (RX) employs a high-rate (up to 10 GS/s) discrete-time (DT) architecture with intermediate frequency (IF) placed beyond the 1/f noise corner of MOS devices. New multistage multi-rate charge-sharing bandpass filters are adapted to achieve high out-of-band linearity, low noise and low power consumption. A transmitter (TX) employs an all-digital PLL (ADPLL) with switched-current-source digitally controlled oscillator (DCO) and switching PA. An integrated on-chip matching network serves both PA and LNTA, thus allowing a 1-pin direct antenna connection with no external antenna filters. The transceiver consumes 2.75mW in RX and 3.6mW in TX when delivering 0 dBm in Bluetooth LE.