Embodiments of radio frequency (RF) front-end circuitry are disclosed where the RF front-end circuitry includes a tunable RF filter structure and a calibration circuit. The tunable RF filter structure includes (at least) a pair of weakly coupled resonators and defines a transfer function with a passband. The calibration circuit is configured to shape the passband so that the passband defines a center frequency. Additionally, the calibration circuit is configured to detect a phase difference at the target center frequency between the pair of weakly coupled resonators and adjust the phase difference of the pair of weakly coupled resonators at the target center frequency so as to reduce a frequency displacement between the center frequency of the passband and the target center frequency. In this manner, the calibration circuit calibrates the tunable RF filter structure to correct for errors in the center frequency of the passband due to component manufacturing variations.

A variable filter circuit includes a serial arm connected between ports (P1-P2), a parallel arm having a resonator connected in series between ports (P1-P3), and another parallel arm having another resonator connected in series between ports (P2-P3). The serial arm includes an inductor connected between the ports (P1-P2), and the parallel arms include variable capacitances connected in series to the resonators.

A bandpass filter includes resonance circuits and an inductance circuit. The resonance circuits are coupled to variable capacitance circuits, respectively. The inductance circuit is coupled to the variable capacitance variable circuits. The resonance circuits are individually controllable by respectively connected variable capacitance circuit to resonate at different frequencies.

In accordance with an embodiment, an RF system includes a transmit path having a first tunable transmit band stop filter, and a power amplifier coupled to an output of the first tunable transmit band stop filter, where the first tunable transmit band stop filter is configured reject a receive frequency and pass a transmit frequency; a receive path comprising an LNA; and a duplex filter having a transmit path port coupled to an output of the power amplifier, a receive path port coupled to an input of the LNA, and an antenna port, where the duplex filter is configured to pass the transmit frequency and reject the receive frequency between the antenna port and the transmit path port, pass the receive frequency and reject the transmit frequency between the antenna port and the receive path port.

An apparatus includes a first circuit and a second circuit. The first circuit may have a first diode and a second diode connected as anti-parallel diodes and physically adjacent to each other in a substrate. The second circuit may have a third diode and a fourth diode connected as anti-parallel diodes and physically adjacent to each other in the substrate. The first circuit and the second circuit may be configured to mix two input signals to generate an output signal. A polarity of every other physically neighboring diode may be reversed.

Apparatus and methods for tunable filters are provided. In certain configurations, a tunable filter includes a semiconductor die attached to a laminated substrate, such as a substrate of a multi-chip module (MCM). The tunable filter includes a vector inductor implemented using two or more conductors arranged on different conductive layers of the laminated substrate. The vector inductor's conductors are inductively coupled to one another and electrically connected in parallel to provide the vector inductor with high quality factor (Q-factor). The semiconductor die includes a variable capacitor that is electrically connected with the vector inductor to operate as a tunable resonator. Additionally, a frequency characteristic of the tunable filter, such as a passband, can be controlled by selecting a capacitance value of the variable capacitor, thereby tuning a resonance of the resonator.

A computer-implemented method, according to one embodiment, includes, for a particular data read clock value, generating a series of symmetrical square wave signals, each having a frequency that is a different fraction of the data read clock frequency. Anti-aliasing filtering is performed on each of the symmetrical square wave signals using predefined anti-aliasing settings. The filtered symmetrical square wave signals are passed through a band pass filter, the band pass filter being set to pass a single harmonic frequency of each of the symmetrical square wave signals. An amplitude of each of the band pass filtered symmetrical square wave signals is measured. In response to the amplitudes of the symmetrical square wave signals being within a predefined range, the anti-aliasing settings are stored. In response to the amplitudes of the symmetrical square wave signals being outside the predefined range, the anti-aliasing settings are changed, and the method is repeated.

A variable-frequency resonance circuit includes first and second input/output terminals and a resonance circuit portion. The resonance circuit portion includes a first inductor and first and second LC series circuits. The resonance circuit portion is connected between a ground and a transmission line that connects the first and second input/output terminals. The first LC series circuit includes a second inductor and a variable capacitor connected in series with each other. The second LC series circuit includes a third inductor and a fixed capacitor connected in series with each other. The first and second LC series circuits are connected in parallel between the first inductor and a ground. The first and second inductors are configured such that positive-coupling mutual inductance is produced therebetween.

RF communications circuitry, which includes a first RF filter structure and RF detection circuitry, is disclosed. The first RF filter structure includes a first group of RF resonators, which include a first pair of weakly coupled RF resonators coupled to a signal path of a first RF signal. One of the first group of RF resonators provides a first sampled RF signal. The RF detection circuitry detects the first sampled RF signal to provide a first detected signal. The first RF filter structure adjusts a first filtering characteristic of the first RF filter structure based on the first detected signal.

A tunable duplexer circuit is described, wherein the frequency response as well as bandwidth and transmission loss characteristics can be dynamically altered, providing improved performance for transceiver front-end applications. The rate of roll-off of the frequency response can be adjusted to improve performance when used in duplexer applications. A method is described where the duplexer circuit characteristics are optimized in conjunction with a specific antenna frequency response to provide additional out-of-band rejection in a communication system. Dynamic optimization of both the duplexer circuit and an active antenna system is described to provide improved out-of-band rejection when implemented in RF front-end circuits of communication systems. Other features and embodiments are described in the following detailed descriptions.