RF Building Blocks and Entertainment SoCs for Mobile Telecommunication Platforms

Abstract

Both for system-in-a-package (SiP) and systems-on-a-chip (SoCs) solutions for applications on mobile telecommunication platforms, power dissipation, size and cost are of prime importance. Advanced CMOS processes allow the introduction of intelligence on chip creating so-called smart SoCs. The vision for these "smart" SoCs is to re-use programmable resources on-chip for calibration purposes to enhance performance or reduce power consumption. After calibration these resources, e.g. FPGAs, can be re-used for normal system operation. In cheaper main-stream BiCMOS processes complete integration and smartness can be achieved by taking revolutionary choices on the architectural level. Two examples of novel RF architectures are highlighted, which resulted in the first "no-external components" FM radio and TV tuner for mobile telecommunication platforms. Both SoCs make use of resources that are generally available on mobile platforms like a reference clock and a microprocessor to make them "smart". Key RF building blocks of the entertainment SoCs are discussed in detail. In particular, a wideband LNA, high precision filters and an octave tunable quadrature oscillator