Hybrid C-Tuner IC for 40V/80V Antenna Aperture Tuning Applications

A monolithically integrated hybrid C-Tuner for antenna aperture tuning applications in handheld cellular devices is presented in the paper. The single C-Tuner design fulfils the requirements for both mid- and high-voltage handling classes, offering an universal solution for aperture capacitive tuners. The configuration of the operating mode (voltage class) is performed on the application level. The integrated circuit (IC) has been designed and fabricated in a dedicated CMOS RF-switch technology. The measured IC has reached 44 V / 85 V RF voltage handling with the capacitance tuning range of 668 fF – 6 pF / 371 fF – 1.8 pF in mid-/high-voltage operating modes respectively.