Repartitioned transceiver using silicon-on-insulator

1. A transceiver circuit comprising:

a digital-to-analog converter;

a filter coupled to the digital-to-analog converter;

a passive mixer on a system-on-chip (SOC) die, and coupled to the filter via a buffer; and

a multi-stage power amplifier on a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) die, and coupled to the passive mixer via a passive amplifier, the passive amplifier comprising an inductor, the inductor coupled directly to an output of the passive mixer and directly to an input to the multi-stage power amplifier, the SOC die coupled to the SOI die via the passive amplifier.

2. The transceiver circuit of claim 1 , wherein an output impedance of the passive mixer is less than 50 ohms.

3. The transceiver circuit of claim 1 , wherein the passive amplifier comprises a series network, and wherein the series network comprises one or more inductors and one or more capacitors.

4. The transceiver circuit of claim 1 , wherein the output of the passive amplifier is tapped between the inductor and a capacitor, and

wherein the output of the passive amplifier is coupled to the input of the multi-stage power amplifier.

5. The transceiver circuit of claim 1 , wherein the passive amplifier is configured to operate as a low-pass filter.

6. The transceiver circuit of claim 1 , wherein the mixer is configured to modulate an in-phase signal.

7. The transceiver circuit of claim 1 , wherein the mixer is configured to modulate a quadrature phase signal.

8. The transceiver circuit of claim 1 , wherein an output of the multi-stage power amplifier is coupled to an antenna.

9. A transmitter, comprising:

a digital-to-analog converter;

a filter coupled to the digital-to-analog converter;

a passive mixer on a system-on-chip (SOC) die, and coupled to the filter via a buffer, wherein the buffer comprises an inverter-based feedback amplifier; and

a multi-stage power amplifier on a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) die, and coupled to the passive mixer via a passive amplifier, the passive amplifier comprising an inductor, the inductor coupled directly to an output of the passive mixer and directly to an input to the multi-stage power amplifier, the SOC die coupled to the SOI die via the passive amplifier.

10. The transmitter of claim 9 , wherein an output impedance of the passive mixer is less than 50 ohms.

11. The transmitter of claim 9 , wherein the passive amplifier comprises a series network, and wherein the series network comprises one or more inductors and one or more capacitors.

12. The transmitter of claim 9 , wherein the output of the passive amplifier is tapped between the inductor and a capacitor, and

wherein the output of the passive amplifier is coupled to the input of the multi-stage power amplifier.

13. The transmitter of claim 9 , wherein the passive amplifier is configured to operate as a low-pass filter.

14. A method for amplifying a RF signal for transmission, comprising:

converting a digital signal into an analog signal, using a digital to analog converter;

filtering the analog signal, using a low-pass filter;

mixing, using one or more mixers, the analog signal with a local oscillator signal to produce a modulated RF signal; and

inputting the modulated RF signal to a passive amplifier, wherein an output of the passive amplifier is coupled to a multi-stage power amplifier via an interface, the passive amplifier comprising an inductor, the inductor coupled directly to the one or more mixers and directly to an input to the multi-stage power amplifier,

the one or more mixers implemented on a system-on-chip (SOC) die and the multi-stage power amplifier implemented on a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) die, the SOC die coupled to the SOI die via the passive amplifier.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the interface has an impedance of less than 50 ohms.