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A UHF current-mode continuous-time band-pass delta sigma modulator using fully balanced active inductor

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Abstract

This paper introduces a 2 GHz continuous-time (CT) fourth order current-mode (CM) band-pass 0.18 μm CMOS delta sigma modulator (DSM) utilizing a fully balanced active inductor. The proposed active inductor takes advantage of positive feedback topology and features accurate loss compensation as well as independent tunability of quality factor and resonant frequency. Based on this active inductor, a CM Ultra High Frequency (UHF) resonator is also proposed, exhibiting a very small on-chip area. Moreover, a high speed CM quantizer working with one single clock is brought into eliminate the error introduced by clock generators. The post layout simulation of the DSM exhibits a peak SNDR of 43.6 dB at 500 MHz with a 40 MHz signal bandwidth while the center frequency can be tuned between 450 and 500 MHz. The measured results give an averaged SNDR of 33 dB with 40 MHz signal bandwidth, where the center frequency is tunable from 300 MHz to 350 MHz. This design consumes only 45 mW under 1.8 V power supply and occupies an area of 0.133 mm2.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge CMC (Canada Microsystem Corporation) for their support in fabrication and equipment loan services. Also the authors would like to thank Ian McKenzie, Mark LeBlanc and Chris Hill for their support in testing fixture setup and Munir Tarar and Amro Elshurafa for their advice during the chip measurements.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada

    Qiuning Chen & Ezz El-Masry

  2. Microelectronics & VLSI Research Laboratory, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Dalhousie University, P.O. Box 1000, Halifax, NS, B3J 1Z1, Canada

    Kamal El-Sankary

Authors
  1. Qiuning Chen
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  2. Kamal El-Sankary
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  3. Ezz El-Masry
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Correspondence to Kamal El-Sankary.

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Chen, Q., El-Sankary, K. & El-Masry, E. A UHF current-mode continuous-time band-pass delta sigma modulator using fully balanced active inductor. Analog Integr Circ Sig Process 67, 261–272 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10470-010-9534-0

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