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2.  Why Digital RF?  Digital processors are typically implemented in the latest CMOS process → Take advantages scaling. (e.g. density,performance)  Integration of traditional RF circuits, however, requires accurate RF and passive models that typically lag behind digital transistor models by several quarters. → time-to-market and multiple-chip  Traditional RF circuits do not benefit from scaling as digital circuits do.(e.g. due to extensive use of inductors, the ever-lowering supply voltage) Ref. : [2] Basic Concepts – Digital RF 2

3.  The frequency of oscillators in RF transceivers must be defined with very high absolute accuracy.  In most cases the frequency must also be varied in small, precise steps, thus it must be adjustable. [3] e.g. for GSM-1800 System mobile radio networks -374 frequency channels -Bandwidth of 200 KHz are available each channel. -The uplink uses the frequencies 1710 ~ 1785 MHz -The downlink uses the frequencies 1805~1880 MHz. In other words, to change the receive or channel, the LO frequency may be required to vary by only 200 kHz. [4] Basic Concepts – Frequency Synthesizer 3

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5.  PLL (Phase Locked Loop) A feedback system to lock the output frequency on the input one. Phase Detector: error amplifier. Low-Pass Filter: allows the dc value to control the VCO frequency. VCO : Voltage Controlled Oscillator Basic Concepts – PLL & VCO [3] 5

6.  VCO can be sensitive to interference from other radio circuitry (e.g. on-chip PA), components of the SoC system (e.g. clocks and their harmonics) and nearby radios.  To prevent VCO pulling by the PA, fractional dividers can be used to offset the VCO frequency with respect to the PA.  This paper proposes a reconfigurable fractional divider capable of covering the WiFi 2.4~2.5GHz and 5~5.8GHz, and WiMAX 2.3~2.7GHz and 3.3~3.8GHz standards with a single VCO with 20% tuning range.  The divider is all-digital, hence scaling-friendly, …  The versatility is afforded by the reconfigurable fractional divider. This Work – Proposal 6

7.  4 quadrature input phases P 1 ~P 4 (Phase Rotator): A high-speed mux with stringent timing constraints.  Each phase is divided by 5 using a Johnson counter (JC)  Output of JC is sampled by the corresponding phase using a set-reset latch.  Signals A-D are combined using an OR gate.  The divider can be changed by simply varying the integer division of the counters, e.g. to 3 for ÷0.75 or 7 for ÷1.75. This Work - Architecture of Reconfigurable Fractional Frequency Divider ÷1.25 [1] Spectral purity of the output is determined by the matching between the 4 path delays. 7

8. This Work - Digitally Controlled Delay Line  Digitally tunable delays independently adjusting rising and falling edge are used to correct mismatch between the paths.  DCDL: ~1ps resolution : inverters partially starved by enabling or disabling parallel transistors.  5b 1 st -order ΔΣ modulator, driving an RC filter (pole~4MHz) : Tune the MOS cap load of an inverter and obtain ~60fs delay resolution.  The tunable delay cells operate at the Johnson counters output frequency. [1] 8

9. Implementation (1) - Standalone Fractional Divider [1]  Implemented standalone in 32nm CMOS.  The divider generates LO signals  Quadrature inputs generated by a divider-by-2.  A single VCO with 20% tuning range (7.8 to 9.5GHz). Consuming from 1.05V Spurs Suppression WiFi/WiMax bands: 5.9 mA<-60 dBc2.5 GHz 6.8 mA<-57 dBc3.5 GHz 8.3 mA<-48 dBc5.5 GHz 9

10. This Work - Digitally Controlled Delay Line  If an interferer is detected, both f vco and the divider ratio are changed by inverse factors such that the synthesized RF channel (f rf ) remains unchanged: f rf = f vco,1 / r 1 = f vco,2 / r 2  Interference can be detected from the VCO control voltage and is ideally suited to digital PLL implementations, where the control voltage is readily available for DSP processing. 10

11. This Work - Block Diagram of the LO Generation [1]  Two identical fractional dividers (frac-div1 and fracdiv2) are used  Digital Duty-Cycle Corrector (DCC) : correct the non-50% duty cycle output.  Digital DLL generates I&Q LO phases for the TX/RX mixers.  MUXes allow for fracdiv1 and fracdiv2 to be placed in series or for fracdiv2 to be bypassed  To save power fracdiv2 is only enabled when an interferer is detected. 11

12. Implementation (2) – On the fly Interference Management [1] Interferer : 100kHz offset from f vco =8750MHz 9375MHz & ÷3.75Mode 8750MHz & ÷3.5Mode No Interferer -29dB-19dB-29dBEVM 0.4mm2 -Die Area 30 mA22 mA-consuming from Vdd=1.05V The all-digital 32nm LOG uses digital calibration instead of spur-filtering inductors and lends itself to CMOS scaling. 12

13. Implementation (3) – Die Micrograph 13

14. [1] K. Chandrashekar et. al., "A 32nm CMOS ALL-Digital Reconfigurable Fractional Frequency Divider for LO Generation in Multistandard SoC Radios With On-the-Fly Interference Management", ISSCC Dig. Tech. Papers, pp 352-353, Feb. 2012 [2] K. Chandrashekar et. al., " A 20dBm 2.4GHz Digital Outphasing Transmitter for WLAN Application in 32nm CMOS ", ISSCC Dig. Tech. Papers, pp 168-170, Feb. 2012 [3] Razavi, Behzad. RF microelectronics. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1998. Print. [4] gsmserver.com, “GSM Characteristics” available on: http://gsmserver.com/articles/gsm_charact.php References 14

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