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CMOS transceiver with high input dynamic range and wide modulation-depth for RFID and NFC readers

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Abstract

This paper presents a fully integrated CMOS RF transceiver for radio-frequency identification (RFID) and near-field communication (NFC) readers. The receiver achieves high sensitivity using a low-noise amplifier (LNA) and enlarges the input dynamic range by employing a variable attenuator in front of the LNA. The variable attenuator is self-controlled by sensing the input signal strength with a power level detector. The transmitter incorporates a digitally controlled pulse-width modulator using a delay-locked loop to supports various amplitude-shift keying modulation depths. The transceiver is implemented using a standard 0.18-μm CMOS process. The measurement results prove that the proposed transceiver operates successfully in both RFID and NFC modes.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Mr. B. Suh, Mr. S. Moon, Mr. E. Kim, Mr. S. Heo, and Mr. J. Cho for their valuable advice and technical support. This research was supported by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (MSIP), Korea, under the Information Technology Research Center (ITRC) support program (IITP2015H8501151010) supervised by the Institute for Information & communications Technology Promotion (IITP).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Electrical Engineering, Chung-Ang University, Heukseok-ro, Dongjak-gu, Seoul, Korea

    Sang-Yong Park & Donghyun Baek

  2. School of Electronics and Information Engineering, Korea Aerospace University, Hwajeon-dong, Deokyang-gu, Goyang-si, Gyeonggi-do, Korea

    Young-Jin Kim

  3. Department of Electronic Engineering, Gangwon National University, Hyoja 3(sam)-dong, Chuncheon-si, Gangwon-do, Korea

    In-Chul Hwang

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  1. Young-Jin Kim
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  2. In-Chul Hwang
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  4. Donghyun Baek
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Correspondence to Donghyun Baek.

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Kim, YJ., Hwang, IC., Park, SY. et al. CMOS transceiver with high input dynamic range and wide modulation-depth for RFID and NFC readers. Analog Integr Circ Sig Process 85, 343–352 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10470-015-0612-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10470-015-0612-1

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