2.4-GHz Low-Power Low-IF Receiver with a Quadrature Local Oscillator Buffer for Bluetooth Low Energy Applications

In this brief, a 2.4-GHz low-power single-quadrature low-IF Bluetooth low energy receiver employing a quadrature local oscillator (LO) buffer is presented for Internet of Things applications. The quadrature LO buffer, which consists of common-source amplifiers with capacitive degeneration, compensating resistors, compensating PMOS transistors and LC tanks, performs quadrature generation and supplies quadrature signals to a single-quadrature mixer, thus eliminating an additional circuitry for quadrature generation in the LO path and saving dc current consumption. The implemented receiver consists of a low-noise amplifier, a $G_{m}$ -stage, double-balanced current-mode passive mixers, transimpedance amplifiers, an active- RC complex bandpass filter, and the quadrature LO buffer. Fabricated in a 65-nm CMOS process, the implemented receiver achieves a noise figure of 8.16 dB, a conversion gain of 54.5 dB, an image rejection ratio of 32.1 dB, and an input-referred third-order intercept point of –27.5 dBm. It draws a bias current of 2.5 mA from a nominal supply voltage of 0.8 V, and the active die area is 1.65 mm2.