EE 215C

Win. 13

B. Razavi
HO #13

Homework #4
Due Thur., Feb. 14, 2013
In this homework, we use Cadence to study a single-VCO heterodyne receiver. The architecture and circuit
implementation are shown below. The IF mixers are realized as passive switches. For simplicity, the divideby-two stage that would generate LO2 from LO1 is omitted from this homework. All transistors have a channel
length of 0.18 m. For LO1 , assume a frequency of 3.5 GHz, a common-mode level of 1.5 V, and a peak-to-peak
differential amplitude of 0.8 V. For LO2 , these numbers will be 1.75 GHz, 0.9 V, and 3.6 V, respectively. The
inductors must be modeled as shown, where CP = 5 fF for every nanohenry of inductance.
IF Mixers
LNA

RF Mixer

V in

BPF

(5.2 GHz) R S

Q
LO 1
(3.5 GHz)

I
LO 2
(1.75 GHz)Q
I Mixer

VDD = 1.8 V
L1

M1
55

50

0.5 p

12

VLO

VDD

3 mA

Ideal

0.15 mA
Inductor Model
L

CP

RP

M2

LO 2

8k

80 f

V BB

12
25

V in

8k

L2

6
6

80 f
LO 2

10k
To Q Mixer

5
0.5 pF

CP

Q = 5 @ 5.2 GHz
Q = 4 @ 1.7 GHz

(a) Determine the values of L1 and L2 to obtain resonance at 5.2 GHz and 1.7 GHz at the LNA output and RF
mixer output, respectively.
(b) Compute the total voltage gain of the receiver, with the input level defined as Vin =2.
(c) Determine the image-reject ratio of the receiver.
(d) Identify two mechanisms through which the receiver translates an interferer at 8.7 GHz to baseband. Assume
no mismatches or even-order harmonics. Determine the gain experienced by such a component and normalize
the result to the gain found in (a).