Wideband baluns with enhanced amplitude and phase balance are provided. The wideband balun includes a first transmission line connected between a first port and a third port, and a second transmission line connected between a second port and a fourth port, and a third transmission line connected between the third port and a reference voltage, such as ground. To enhance phase and/or amplitude balance of the wideband balun, the wideband balun further includes a compensation structure operable to provide at least one of capacitive compensation or inductive compensation to balance the wideband balun. For example, in certain implementations, the compensation structure includes at least one of (i) a capacitor connected between the first port and the second port or (ii) a fourth transmission line connected between the first transmission line and the third port.

Wideband power combiners and splitters are provided herein. In certain embodiments, a power combiner/splitter is implemented with a first coil connecting a first port and a second port, and a second coil connecting a third port and a fourth port. The first coil and the second coil are inductively coupled to one another. For example, the first coil and the second coil can be formed using adjacent conductive layers of a semiconductor chip, an integrated passive device, or a laminate. The power combiner/splitter further includes a fifth port tapping a center of the first coil and a sixth port tapping a center of the second coil. The fifth port and the sixth port serve to connect capacitors and/or other impedance to the center of the coils to thereby provide wideband operation.

A Radio Frequency (RF) circuit including a receive path, a transmit path, a switching circuit, and an output configured to receive RF signals from an antenna in a receive mode of operation, and to provide RF signals to the antenna in a transmit mode of operation. The receive path is configured to be coupled between a low-noise amplifier and the output. The switching circuit is located in the receive path and is configured, in the receive mode, to selectively couple the low-noise amplifier to the output and to pass the received RF signals from the output to the low-noise amplifier. The transmit path is configured to be coupled between a power amplifier and the output, to provide, in the transmit mode, signals from the power amplifier to the output, bypassing the switching circuit, and to have, in receive mode of operation, an off-state impedance of at least 200+j*13 Ohm.

A wireless receiving device includes a wake-up receiver, a main receiver and a calibration circuit. The wake-up receiver operates in a monitoring mode or a sleep mode. When operating in the monitoring mode, the wake-up receiver monitors whether a request signal is transmitted by a communication device and issues a wake-up signal after receiving the request signal. The main receiver operates in a sleep mode or a transmission mode. When operating in the sleep mode, the main receiver is woken up and enters the transmission mode to transmit and receive data to and from the communication device when receiving the wake-up signal. The calibration circuit is coupled to the wake-up receiver and the main receiver and configured to receive a calibration signal from the main receiver and calibrate a reception frequency of the wake-up receiver in the background in response to the calibration signal.

Apparatus and methods for power amplifiers isolated by differential ground are provided. In certain implementations, a mobile device includes a transceiver that generates a plurality of radio frequency input signals including a first radio frequency input signal and a second radio frequency input signal, and a plurality of differential power amplifiers including a first differential power amplifier that provides amplification to the first radio frequency input signal and a second differential power amplifier that provides amplification to the second radio frequency input signal. The first differential power amplifier and the second differential power amplifier each operate with differential ground so as to provide isolation between the first differential power amplifier and the second differential power amplifier.

Apparatus and methods for low noise amplifiers (LNAs) are provided herein. In certain configurations, an LNA includes a mode control circuit that operates the LNA in one of a plurality of modes including a gain mode and a bypass mode, a gain circuit electrically connected between an input terminal and an output terminal and operable to amplify a radio frequency signal received from the input terminal in the gain mode, and a bypass circuit electrically connected between the input terminal and the output terminal and operable to bypass the gain circuit in the bypass mode. The bypass circuit includes a balun that provides a first amount of compensation for a difference in phase delay between the bypass circuit and the gain circuit, and the LNA further includes a phase compensation circuit operable to provide a second amount of compensation for the difference in phase delay.

A receiver according to some embodiments of a pulsed UWB receiver. The UWB receiver includes a down-conversion mixer coupled to the first switch and providing an IF signal; an integrator that receives the IF signal, the integrator being switched on and off at a periodic repetition frequency (PRF); a sample and hold circuit coupled to the integrator; a first phase switch that is switched at PRF/2 coupled to receive a signal before the integrator; a second phase switch coupled to the sample and hold circuit, the second switch also being switched at PRF/2; and a low-pass filter coupled to the second switch, wherein l/f noise is filtered out by the low-pass filter.

A passive conjunction circuit for an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) is disclosed. In one aspect, the passive conjunction circuit includes a first input node receiving an analog input signal to be converted by the ADC and a second input node receiving a reference voltage other than a ground voltage of the ADC. The passive conjunction circuit also includes a first output node to be connected to a first differential input of the ADC (20) and a second output node to be connected to a second differential input of the ADC. The passive conjunction circuit further includes a first voltage divider interconnected between the first input and output nodes and a second voltage divider interconnected between the second input and output nodes.

The disclosed technology includes device, systems, techniques, and methods for amplifying a complex modulated signal with a mixed-signal power amplifier. A mixed-signal power amplifier may include an input network for splitting an input signal to multiple signals with corresponding phase and amplitude offsets, a main power amplification path including at least an analog power amplifier for amplifying a first signal, one or more auxiliary power amplification paths including at least one digitally controlled analog power amplifier in each path for amplifying a second signal, and an output network for combining the two amplified signals. The main power amplification path and the auxiliary power amplification paths can operate together to achieve load modulation to enhance the overall power amplifier efficiency at power back-off mode and the overall power amplifier linearity. The disclosed technology further includes transmission systems incorporating the mixed-signal power amplifier.

A power amplifier includes a two-dimensional matrix of NM active cells formed by stacking main terminals of multiple active cells in series. The stacks are coupled in parallel to form the two-dimensional matrix. The power amplifier includes a driver structure to coordinate the driving of the active cells so that the effective output power of the two-dimensional matrix is approximately NM the output power of each of the active cells.