RF/mm-wave peak detector with high-dynamic range calibration
AssigneeTexas Instruments Incorporated
InventorsVito Giannini, Brian Paul Ginsburg
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An integrated circuit (IC) is provided with a plurality of diode based mm-wave peak voltage detectors (PVD)s. During a testing phase, a multi-point low frequency calibration test is performed on one or more of the PVDs to determine and store a set of alternating current (AC) coefficients. During operation of the IC, a current-voltage sweep is performed on a selected one of the PVDs to determine a process and temperature direct current (DC) coefficient. A peak voltage produced by the PVD in response to a high frequency radio frequency (RF) signal is measured to produce a first measured voltage. An approximate power of the RF signal is calculated by adjusting the first measured voltage using the DC coefficient and the AC coefficient.
Claims20
A method comprising:
- determining a first coefficient for a peak voltage detector configured to output a voltage corresponding to a power level of a signal at its input, by applying a plurality of direct current (DC) levels to the input of the peak voltage detector and measuring an output voltage for each current level;
- determining a second coefficient for the peak voltage detector by applying an alternating current (AC) test signal at one or more calibrated power levels to the input of the peak voltage detector and measuring a peak voltage for each calibrated power level;
- and
- calculating an approximate power of an input radio frequency (RF) signal received at the peak voltage detector, the peak voltage detector producing a first measured voltage responsive to the input RF signal, by adjusting the first measured voltage using the first and second coefficients.
A method comprising:
- determining a first coefficient for a peak voltage detector configured to output a voltage corresponding to a power level of a signal at its input, by performing a current-voltage sweep on the peak voltage detector;
- performing an alternating current (AC) calibration test on the peak voltage detector to determine a set of one or more second coefficients by:
- providing a radio frequency (RF) test signal having a known frequency and a known power level to an input of the peak voltage detector;
- measuring a resultant peak voltage from the peak voltage detector;
- calculating an AC calibration coefficient that relates the measured peak voltage to the power level of the RF test signal;
- and
- storing the AC calibration coefficient in a non-volatile storage location on a same integrated circuit as the peak voltage detector;
- and
- calculating an approximate power of an input RF signal received at the peak voltage detector, the peak voltage detector producing a first measured voltage responsive to the input RF signal, by adjusting the first measured voltage using the first and one or more second coefficients.
A system on an integrated circuit comprising:
- a mm-wave peak voltage detector formed on a substrate of the integrated circuit (IC), the peak voltage detector having an input coupled to receive a mm-wave radio frequency (RF) signal, and an output for providing a measured peak voltage signal corresponding to a power level of the RF signal received at its input;
- a built in self test (BIST) network coupled to read the measured peak voltage signal on the output of the peak voltage detector, in which the BIST includes a processing module and a memory module having a non-volatile memory portion, in which the processing module is operable to:
- determine a first coefficient for the peak voltage detector by performing a current-voltage sweep on the peak voltage detector;
- measure a peak voltage produced by the peak voltage detector in response to a mm-wave radio frequency (RF) signal to obtain a first measured voltage;
- determine a second coefficient for the peak voltage detector by applying one or more an alternating current (AC) test signals at a calibrated power level to the voltage detector;
- and
- calculate an approximate power of the RF signal by adjusting the first measured voltage using the first and second coefficients.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.