Silicon chips for GSM base station receivers

Abstract

This paper describes silicon RFICs designed for GSM900/DCS1800 base station receivers. GSM standard and radio requirements are reviewed, and circuits that meet those requirements are discussed. A low-phase noise VCO, a high linearity low noise amplifier, a high linearity mixer, and a low-residual phase noise buffer amplifier, all fully integrated in 0.25 /spl mu/m BiCMOS technology, are presented. Performance of these circuits demonstrated that it is feasible to use low cost silicon technology for base station receiver radios.