ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we describe direct conversion architectures for radio applications and the impact of
silicon germanium technology on such architectures. First, we describe the radio architecture and
illustrate various challenges in the development of such architecture from an integration standpoint.
Later, we demonstrate the development of two variants of fully monolithic radios in a second-generation
silicon germanium BiCMOS technology. We also cover various practical aspects of these radios, with an
appreciative viewpoint of both the simplicity as well as the complexity of such developments in a silicon-
based environment. Afterwards, we present case studies of direct conversion radios for IEEE802.11a
standard. While this standard is a representative of high data rate wireless system, similar approaches can
be taken for other wireless standards as well.
