A high-performance WiFi/WiMAX multi-com RFIC in 90nm CMOS

We present in this article an industry-first multi-com RFIC, combining a dual-band 802.11n radio (WiFi) and a triple-band 802.16e (WiMAX) radio on the same die. The WiFi radio supports up to 3 × 3 MIMO rank, and the WiMAX radio supports up to 1 × 2 MIMO. This highly-integrated direct-conversion RFIC features an integrated fractional-N synthesizer, non-harmonic frequency generation, integrated LNAs and PA drivers, and baseband chains shared by both TX and RX chains. Calibration circuits and control flexibility ensure consistent performance under production and environmental variations.