ABSTRACT
Optimized wafer processes that meet the special demands of analog and radio frequency (RF) functions are normally employed and RF circuit designers are trained with such technologies in mind. This chapter presents key ideas and techniques used at Texas Instruments to develop two generations of Digital RF Processor (DRP) realized in aggressively scaled digital complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology. The DRP technology combines the radio frequency (RF), analog, digital, and software functionality. The main radio blocks, such as the local oscillator, transmitter and receiver, are built from the ground up to be compatible with digital scaled CMOS technology and be readily integrated with digital baseband and application processors. The power and sheer volume of consumer demand has driven cellular handsets to an incredible level of complexity featuring diverse modulation schemes and multiple protocols, as well as coverage of multiple frequency bands.
