Patent ID: 7702296

Claim:
A radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), comprising: a transmitter module for converting an outgoing baseband signal to an outgoing RF signal, comprising a power amplifier (PA) transmitting the outgoing RF signal; a receiver module for converting an incoming RF signal to an incoming baseband signal, comprising a low noise amplifier (LNA) receiving the incoming RF signal; and a transmit/receive switch, coupled to the power amplifier (PA) and the low noise amplifier (LNA), comprising: an impedance matching circuit, coupled to the power amplifier (PA) and the low noise amplifier (LNA), for impedance matching the incoming and outgoing RF signals; and a voltage scaling circuit, coupled to the impedance matching circuit, the power amplifier (PA), and the low noise amplifier (LNA), attenuating the outgoing RF signal into a scaled signal, wherein the voltage of the scaled signal is within a breakdown voltage of a transistor in the low noise amplifier (LNA).