5 / 2017-03-17 00:37:32

33~50GHz CMOS Receiver with Wideband RF, IF and LO Chain

13114,9270,5099,9015,13115,5260

This manuscript describes the Q-band 90nm-CMOS receiver design where the 33~50GHz RF-LNA, actively-biased double-balanced mixer, 10GHz IF amplifier, wideband frequency tripler and power amplifier in the LO chain are all integrated into one single chip. With overall power consumption of 170mW under 1.2V bias, the measured conversion gain is 15dB, noise figure close to 8dB, input-referred P1dB around -30dBm, and the LO-IF port isolation is more than 60dB. Therefore, it can be easily driven by an external 11~16GHz signal source and used in applications such as next-generation broadband mobile communications where several specific Q-band frequency points have been considered. However, contrary to most receiver designs where the optimization is carried out over a relatively narrow bandwidth, here the main challenge lies in how to effectively extend the RF, IF, and LO bandwidth simultaneously without rendering performance deterioration. By possessing such broadband RF, IF, and LO characteristics, this Q-band circuit is also eligible for use in radio-astronomical, atmospheric, and other scientific instrumentations.