IIP2-Enhanced Receiver Front-End with Notch-Filtered Low-Noise Transconductance Amplifier for 5G New Radio Cellular Applications

Abstract

This study presents an IIP2-enhanced receiver front-end with a notch-filtered low-noise transconductance amplifier (LNTA) for 5G new radio (NR) cellular applications. The LNTA employs a dual-band third-order LC notch filter with a band-switchable differential inductor to reject TX leakages and out-of-band blockers. Consequently, the receiver front-end has enhanced blocker tolerance and satisfies the IIP2 specification with no IIP2 calibration. Fabricated through a 65-nm CMOS process, the receiver front-end was primarily characterized in the low band and mid band of 5G NR. It achieved a noise figure of 3.5 dB, conversion gain of 41.5 dB, out-of-band IIP3 of 2.1 dBm, and calibration-free IIP2 of more than 59 dBm.