Trends in silicon radio large scale integration: zero IF receiver! Zero I&Q transmitter! Zero discrete passives!

After 10 years of advances in silicon RF integration, what used to be an art is becoming a “normal practice”. Historically, RF design was the art of s-parameters, shielding, impedance matching, and standing wave ratios. Modern silicon RFICs are designed using the same SPICE-like tools as in low-frequency analog ICs with the addition of important software for system-level simulation and mixer circuit noise analysis. New RF design practices away from the 50 ohm culture, novel chip architectures, and powerful technological advances will drive radio integration toward the ultimate single-chip phone. The obstacles in this quest are high system requirements on noise figure, substrate crosstalk, and parasitic coupling, not the silicon IC technology