A Highly Efficient Combo Transceiver for 802.11b/g/n/ax and BT/BLE in 22nm CMOS

A multi-mode transceiver is presented to support 802.11b/g/n/ax, Bluetooth classic (BT) and low energy (BLE). The design features two signal paths and one merged RF port, demonstrating the first combo chip optimized for low power IoT applications. The highly efficient combo radio achieves comparable or better performance against standalone solutions. The receiver chain noise figure (NF) is measured at 2.7dB in 802.11ax mode, and the power consumption is 32mW, the lowest reported in literature. In BLE receiving mode, NF is 5dB while consuming 9.7mW. The measured 802.11 mask compliant output power is 21.5dBm with 22%/20% PA/Tx efficiency. With 1024-QAM OFDM (MCS11) signals, -35dB EVM can be achieved at 16dBm output power without digital pre-distortion (DPD). EVM floor reaches -42dB with 11n MCS7 signals. As for BLE transmission, 10.5dBm power can be delivered with 28%/21% PA/Tx efficiency. Implemented in 22nm CMOS technology, the entire radio occupies 2.1mm2 silicon area.