Antenna Transmit Receive Switch

• US 20150091776A1
• Filed: 09/27/2013
• Published: 04/02/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/27/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: pSemi Corporation (Murata Manufacturing Co Limited)
• Original Assignee: Peregrine Semiconductor Corporation (Murata Manufacturing Co Limited)
• Inventors: Gaynor, Michael P., Nobbe, Dan William
• Granted Patent: US 9,300,286 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 343/860
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 17/693 Switching arrangements with several input- or output-terminals, e.g. multiplexers, distributors logic circuits H03K19/00; code converters H03M5/00, H03M7/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/0458 Arrangements for matching and coupling between power amplifier and antenna or between amplifying stages matching circuits in general H03H
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/18 Input circuits, e.g. for coupling to an antenna or a transmission line coupling networks between antennas or lines and receivers independent of the nature of the receiver H03H
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/48 in circuits for connecting transmitter and receiver to a common transmission path, e.g. by energy of transmitter H04B1/46 takes precedence

Abstract

An antenna switch is presented. The antenna switch can connect an antenna to either transmit circuitry or receive circuitry, depending on control signals applied to the antenna switch while presenting different impedances to a connected circuitry.

Claims

1. A circuital arrangement comprising:

a first port;

a second port;

a third port;

a first transistor arrangement;

a second transistor arrangement;

a first reactive element; and

a control signal;

wherein the circuital arrangement is configured to operate in one of a first mode and a second mode of operation, a mode of operation being determined by the control signal, wherein;

during the first mode of operation, the circuital arrangement is configured to present a first impedance at the first port and a second impedance at the second port and to provide a first electrical conduction path between the second port and the first port through the first transistor arrangement, while isolating the third port from the first electrical conduction path; and

during the second mode of operation, the circuital arrangement is configured to present the first impedance at the first port and a third impedance different from the first impedance and the second impedance at the third port and provide a second electrical conduction path between the third port and the first port through the second transistor arrangement connected in series with the first reactive element, while isolating the second port from the second electrical conduction path.

2. The circuital arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the first electrical conduction path further comprises a second reactive element connected in series with the first transistor arrangement.

3. The circuital arrangement according to claim 2, further comprising a control unit configured to generate the control signal.

4. The circuital arrangement according to claim 2, wherein:

the first transistor arrangement comprises one or more first shunt transistor each connected to a corresponding one or more first series transistor and the second transistor arrangement comprises one or more second shunt transistor each connected to a corresponding one or more second series transistor, wherein;

during the first mode of operation, the one or more first series transistor and the one or more second shunt transistor are ON and the one or more first shunt transistor and the one or more second series transistor are OFF; and

during the second mode of operation, the one or more first series transistor and the one or more second shunt transistor are OFF and the one or more first shunt transistor and the one or more second series transistor are ON.

5. The circuital arrangement according to claim 4 wherein a port of a shunt transistor of the one or more first shunt transistor and/or the one or more second shunt transistor is connected to ground via a resistor.

6. The circuital arrangement according to claim 2, wherein the first and/or the second reactive element comprises:

a) an inductor with a fixed inductance, b) an inductor with a variable inductance, c) a capacitor with a fixed capacitance in series connection with a) or b), and d) a capacitor with a variable capacitance in series connection with a) or b).

7. The circuital arrangement according to claim 6, wherein the variable inductor is a digitally tunable inductor (DTL) and/or the variable capacitor is a digitally tunable capacitor (DTC).

8. The circuital arrangement according to claim 2, wherein the first and/or the second reactive element comprises a combination of series and/or shunt connected reactive elements.

9. The circuital arrangement according to claim 8, wherein at least one reactive element of the combination of series and/or shunt connected reactive elements comprises a digitally tunable inductor (DTL) and/or a digitally tunable capacitor (DTC).

10. The circuital arrangement according to claim 2, wherein the first impedance, the second impedance and the third impedance are determined by R_ON and C_OFF of the transistors from the first and second transistor arrangements in combination with the reactances of the first reactive element, the second reactive element and parasitic components associated with the circuital arrangement.

11. The circuital arrangement according to claim 10, wherein the R_ON and C_OFF of the transistors from the first and second transistor arrangements are varied to achieve a desired first, second and third impedance.

12. The circuital arrangement according to 11, wherein the R_ON and C_OFF are varied by changing sizes of the transistors from the first and second transistor arrangement.

13. The circuital arrangement according to claim 2, wherein the values of the first impedance, the second impedance and the third impedance are varied by varying the sizes of the transistors from the first and second transistor arrangements in combination with a value of the first reactive element and the second reactive element.

14. The circuital arrangement according to claim 4, wherein the transistors of the first and second transistor arrangements are MOSFETs.

15. The circuital arrangement according to claim 4, wherein a transistor of the first and/or the second transistor arrangements is an accumulated charge control (ACC) silicon on insulator (SOI) metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET).

16. The circuital arrangement according to claim 4, wherein a transistor of the first or the second transistor arrangements is a stacked transistor.

17. The circuital arrangement according to claim 16, wherein a stack height of the stacked transistor is a function of an impedance value of the first impedance and/or the second impedance and/or the third impedance.

18. The circuital arrangement according to claim 17, wherein the function is a ratio of impedance values.

19. The circuital arrangement according to claim 17, wherein the stack height of a transistor of the first transistor arrangement is a ratio of a value of the first impedance and a value of the second impedance.

20. The circuital arrangement according to claim 17, wherein the stack height of a transistor of the second transistor arrangement is a ratio of a value of the first impedance and a value of the third impedance.

21. The circuital arrangement according to 2, wherein the first impedance is lower in value than the second impedance and the third impedance.

22. The circuital arrangement according to claim 1 or 2, fabricated in the form of an integrated circuit.

23. The circuital arrangement according to claim 1 or 2, fabricated entirely or partially using one of:

a) silicon on insulator (SOI) technology, and b) silicon on sapphire (SOS) technology.

24. The circuital arrangement according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising:

a first impedance matching network;

a lowpass filter connected between the first impedance matching network and the second port;

a bandpass filter connected to the third port;

an antenna; and

a second impedance matching network connected between the first port and the antenna.

25. The circuital arrangement according to claim 24, wherein the first impedance matching network is further connected to a transmit circuitry through a first power amplifier and the bandpass filter is further connected to a receive circuitry through a low noise amplifier.

26. The circuital arrangement according to claim 25, wherein the first impedance matching network matches an impedance between the first power amplifier and the low pass filter and the second impedance matching network matches an impedance between the first port and the antenna.

27. A circuital arrangement comprising:

one or more first ports;

one or more second ports;

one or more third ports;

one or more first transistor arrangements;

one or more second transistor arrangements;

one or more first reactive elements; and

a control signal;

wherein the circuital arrangement is configured to operate in one or both of a first mode and a second mode of operation, wherein;

during the first mode of operation, the circuital arrangement is configured to present a first impedance at a selected first port from among the one or more first ports and a second impedance at a selected second port from among the one or more second ports, and provide a first electrical conduction path between the selected second port and the selected first port through a first transistor arrangement of the one or more first transistor arrangements, while isolating the one or more third port and the unselected one or more first and second port from the first electrical conduction path; and

during the second mode of operation, the circuital arrangement is configured to present the first impedance at a selected first port from among the one or more first ports and a third impedance at a selected third port from among the one or more third ports, and provide a second electrical conduction path between the selected third port and the selected first port through a second transistor arrangement of the one or more second transistor arrangements connected in series with a corresponding first reactive element of the one or more first reactive elements, while isolating the one or more second port and the unselected one or more first and third port from the second electrical conduction path;

wherein

the first or second modes of operation and the selected first port among the one or more first ports, the selected second port among the one or more second ports and the selected third port among the one or more third ports are selected by the control signal generated from a control unit.

28. A communication system comprising the circuital arrangement of claim 27, wherein the communication system is configured to operate in a plurality of selectable communication modes, each communication mode being in correspondence of the first mode of operation or the second mode of operation of the circuital arrangement.

29. The communication system according to claim 28, wherein a communication mode of the plurality of communication modes is in correspondence of one of:

a) a transmit channel, b) a receive channel, and c) a transmit and receive channel.

30. The circuital arrangement according to claim 27, wherein the first electrical conduction path further comprises a second reactive element connected in series with the first transistor arrangement.

31. The circuital arrangement according to claim 30, wherein the first impedance, the second impedance and the third impedance are determined by R_ON and C_OFF of the transistors from the selected first and selected second transistor arrangements in combination with the reactances of the first reactive element, the second reactive element and parasitic components associated with the circuital arrangement.

32. The circuital arrangement according to claim 30, wherein:

the selected first transistor arrangement comprises one or more first shunt transistor each connected to a corresponding one or more first series transistor and the selected second transistor arrangement comprises one or more second shunt transistor each connected to a corresponding one or more second series transistor, wherein;

during the first mode of operation, the one or more first series transistor and the one or more second shunt transistor are ON and the one or more first shunt transistor and the one or more second series transistor are OFF; and

during the second mode of operation, the one or more first series transistor and the one or more second shunt transistor are OFF and the one or more first shunt transistor and the one or more second series transistor are ON.

33. The circuital arrangement according to claim 32 wherein a port of a shunt transistor of the one or more first shunt transistor and/or the one or more second shunt transistor is connected to ground via a resistor.

34. The circuital arrangement according to claim 30, wherein the first and/or second reactive element comprises a combination of series and/or shunt connected reactive elements.

35. The circuital arrangement according to claim 34, wherein at least one reactive element of the combination of series and/or shunt connected reactive elements comprises a digitally tunable inductor (DTL) and/or a digitally tunable capacitor (DTC).

36. The circuital arrangement according to claim 27 or claim 3027, wherein one or more transistors of the first and second transistor arrangements are MOSFETs.

37. The circuital arrangement according to claim 27 or claim 27, wherein a transistor of the first and/or the second transistor arrangements is an accumulated charge control (ACC) silicon on insulator (SOI) metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET).

38. The circuital arrangement according to claim 27, wherein a transistor of the first or the second transistor arrangements is a stacked transistor.

39. The circuital arrangement according to claim 38, wherein a stack height of the stacked transistor is a function of an impedance value of the first impedance and/or the second impedance and/or the third impedance.

40. The circuital arrangement according to claim 38, wherein the stack height of a transistor of the first transistor arrangement is a ratio of a value of the first impedance and a value of the second impedance.

41. The circuital arrangement according to claim 38, wherein the stack height of a transistor of the second transistor arrangement is a ratio of a value of the first impedance and a value of the third impedance.

42. The circuital arrangement according to 27, wherein the first impedance is lower in value than the second impedance.

43. The circuital arrangement according to claim 27, fabricated in the form of an integrated circuit.

44. The circuital arrangement according to claim 27, fabricated entirely or partially using one of:

a) silicon on insulator (SOI) technology, and b) silicon on sapphire (SOS) technology.

45. A method for reducing loss in a radio frequency (RF) circuit, the method comprising:

during a first RF signal flow, providing a first conduction path between a corresponding first circuit and an antenna match circuit while isolating a second circuit from the first conduction path;

during a second RF signal flow, providing a second conduction path between the corresponding second circuit and the antenna match circuit while isolating the first circuit from the second conduction path;

based on the providing of the first conduction path, presenting a first impedance to both the first circuit and the antenna match circuit, and

based on the providing of the second conduction path, presenting a second impedance to the second circuit and the first impedance to the antenna match circuit, wherein

the first impedance value is smaller than the second impedance value.

46. The method according to claim 45, wherein a difference in value between the first impedance value and the second impedance value is provided by an inductor in the second conduction path.

47. The method according to claim 45, wherein the first circuit is a transmit circuit transmitting the first RF signal and the second circuit is a receive circuit receiving the second RF signal.

48. The method according to claim 45, wherein the first circuit is a first transmit circuit transmitting the first RF signal and the second circuit is a second transmit circuit transmitting the second RF signal.