Baseband and audio mixed-signal front-end IC for GSM/EDGE applications

A complete mixed-signal front-end CMOS chip is presented, supporting GSM/EDGE as well as enhanced audio applications. The chosen solution for the transmit section is based on Laurent´s approximation of the nonlinear GMSK modulator. This enables burst shaping in the I/Q domain thereby solving the problem of power ramping. Also, up to GPRS class 12 is supported. The receive section on the other hand consists of a low power dual mode continuous-time ΣΔ ADC for I and Q, supporting ZIF and LIF modes of operation and achieving typically 12.5 bit of resolution under production conditions. An on-chip PLL, which supplies all blocks with various clock frequencies, additionally supports clock jitter suppression. The audio section comprises a codec supporting standard formats such as IIS and PCM. It features mono/stereo signaling from various sources in 16bit quality as well as high-drive buffers for 4 Ω single-ended loads (capacitively coupled). The whole chip is powered from a 1.5/2.65 V supply voltage and consumes 22 mW in paging mode.