Patent application number | Description | Published |
20090238313 | STEPPED GAIN MIXER - An amplified stepped gain mixer portion improves the signal-to-noise ratio of a receiver by using multiple gain states to improve linearity. The mixer portion includes an amplifier, a switch and two transistors. The amplifier output is coupled to the sources of the two transistors. An oscillating signal is present on the transistor gates. The transistor drains are coupled to one another through the switch when the switch is closed. The mixer portion operates in two modes. In a 1/2 mode, the mixer portion output current flows only through the first transistor and not through the second transistor because the switch is open. In a 2/2 mode, the mixer portion output current flows through both transistors. The mixer portion is configured such that the switch is closed when a switching signal is asserted. The switching signal is asserted when a bit of a mixer control register is written to. | 09-24-2009 |
20130324062 | POWER DETECTOR WITH TEMPERATURE COMPENSTATION - Power detectors with temperature compensation and having improved accuracy over temperature are disclosed. In an aspect of the disclosure, variations of a power detector gain over temperature is reduced by varying both the gate and drain voltages of MOS transistors within a power detector. In an exemplary design, an apparatus includes at least one MOS transistor, which receives an input signal, detects the power of the input signal based on a power detection gain, and provides an output signal indicative of the power of the input signal. The at least one MOS transistor is applied a variable gate bias voltage and a variable drain bias voltage in order to reduce variations of the power detection gain over temperature. At least one additional MOS transistor may receive a second variable gate bias voltage and provide the variable drain bias voltage for the at least one MOS transistor. | 12-05-2013 |
20140266518 | Step Attenuator with Constant Input Capacitance - A step attenuator with constant input capacitance and having good performance is disclosed. In an exemplary design, an apparatus includes a step attenuator having a constant input capacitance for different amounts of attenuation. The step attenuator receives an input signal, provides a variable amount of attenuation for the input signal, and provides an output signal. The step attenuator may include a plurality of attenuator sections coupled in series. Each attenuator section may include a plurality of capacitors and may have the constant input capacitance. At least one of the plurality of attenuator sections may be selected or unselected to obtain a selected amount of attenuation for the step attenuator. An attenuator section may provide a predetermined amount of attenuation or a variable amount of attenuation when selected. The apparatus may further include a power detector that receives and determines the power of the output signal from the step attenuator. | 09-18-2014 |
20150022024 | SWITCH LINEARIZER - Exemplary embodiments are related to switch linearizer. A device may include at least one switch. The device may further include a linearizer coupled to the at least one switch and configured to cancel at least a portion of distortion generated by the at least one switch in an off-state. | 01-22-2015 |
20150035550 | HIGH ACCURACY MEASUREMENT OF ON-CHIP COMPONENT PARAMETERS - Techniques for measuring on-chip component parameters are described herein. In one embodiment, a method for measuring one or more on-chip component parameters comprises measuring a time for an on-chip capacitor to charge to a voltage approximately equal to a reference voltage, and measuring a time for the on-chip capacitor to charge to a voltage approximately equal to a voltage across an on-chip component. The method also comprises determining a parameter of the on-chip component based on the measured time for the on-chip capacitor to charge to the voltage approximately equal to the reference voltage, the measured time for the on-chip capacitor to charge to the voltage approximately equal to the voltage across the on-chip component, and the reference voltage. | 02-05-2015 |
20150042399 | ANALOG SWITCH FOR RF FRONT END - Techniques for improving the linearity of radio-frequency (RF) front-end switches. In an aspect, open-loop techniques are disclosed for superimposing the output voltage of one or more negative rectifiers on a negative substrate bias voltage to reduce the non-linearities associated with voltage-dependent substrate leakage current. In another aspect, closed-loop techniques are further disclosed for maintaining the substrate bias voltage close to a reference voltage. Exemplary embodiments of the circuit blocks are further described. | 02-12-2015 |
20150042412 | DIRECTIONAL COUPLER CIRCUIT TECHNIQUES - Techniques for efficiently integrating directional coupler circuitry with other circuit elements of an RF front end. In an aspect, one or more inductors of an RF front end filter is incorporated into a first inductor of the directional coupler, and a capacitor is further coupled in parallel with the first inductor. In another aspect, circuitry associated with matching components of the RF front end may further be incorporated into the directional coupler design. Further techniques are provided for coupling directivity tuning elements to a second inductor of the directional coupler to improve the linearity of the coupler over other tuning techniques. | 02-12-2015 |
20150105032 | DYNAMIC BIAS TO IMPROVE SWITCH LINEARITY - Exemplary embodiments are related to a dynamic gate bias for an electronic switch. A device may include a radio-frequency (RF) switch configured to receive an RF signal. The device may further include a bias generator configured to convey a bias signal based on a power level of the RF signal to the RF switch. | 04-16-2015 |