Method for transconductance linearization for DC-coupled applications

A radio frequency (RF) transceiver integrated circuit, comprising:

• a local oscillator that generates an RF local oscillation signal corresponding to an RF channel;
• a receiver section operably coupled to the local oscillator to receive the RF local oscillation signal, wherein the receiver section receives an incoming RF signal, and wherein the receiver section down-converts the incoming RF signal based upon the RF local oscillation signal to produce an incoming baseband signal;
• a transmitter section operably coupled to the local oscillator to receive the RF local oscillation signal, wherein the transmitter section receives an outgoing baseband signal, and wherein the transmitter section up-converts the outgoing baseband signal to produce an outgoing RF signal;
• and
• wherein the local oscillator further comprises:
• a phase locked loop that generates a phase locked loop oscillation signal;
• and
• a mixing stage that receives phase the locked loop oscillation signal and the phase locked loop oscillation signal, wherein the mixing stage further includes:
• a transconductance block tat includes a plurality of transconductance stages for producing a linearized current as a function of an input signal;
• mixing circuitry for mixing the linearized current with a local oscillation to produced a linearized mixed output current signal;
• and
• an output stage coupled to the drain terminal of the mixing circuitry to convert the linearized mixed output current signal to a voltage signal.

A radio frequency (RF) transceiver integrated circuit, comprising:

• digital processor for transmitting and receiving digital data;
• and
• radio front end circuitry operable to exchange the digital data with the digital processor and further to transmit RF signal, the radio front end further including:
• a DC coupled class AB transconductance block further comprising:
• a first DC coupled transconductance stage operably coupled to produce a first differential current from a differential input voltage based on a first bias voltage produced from a first node of resistor ladder;
• a second DC coupled transconductance stage operably coupled to produce a second differential current based on the differential input voltage and a second bias voltage produced from a second node of a resistor ladder, wherein output current of the class AB transconductance block is a sum of the first differential current and the second differential current;
• a resistor ladder comprising a plurality of resistors wherein at least one resistor is coupled between each transconductance stage of the DC coupled class AD transconductance block and wherein the second node is electrically downstream from the first node and further wherein there is a least one resistor of the resistor ladder between the first and second nodes;
• and
• wherein each transconductance stage is biased to a different voltage level relative to all other transconductance stages.

In a Radio Frequency (RF) transceiver mixer module, a method for down-converting a received RF signal, comprising:

• receiving the RF signal at an input of a transconductance block;
• producing a linearized transconductance signal within a mixing stage of a phase-locked loop;
• mixing the linearized transconductance signal with a local oscillation;
• producing one of a down converted signal to a baseband processor or an upconverted RF signal for transmission from an antenna.