A 32–40 GHz 4-Channel transceiver with 6-bit amplitude and phase control

Abstract

This paper presents a Ka band 4-Channel transceiver with 6-bit amplitude and phase control using a 0.13-μm SiGe BiCMOS process. The transmit/receive (TX/RX) channel consists of single-pole double-throw (SPDT) switch, 6-bit passive phase shifter (PS), 6-bit passive attenuator (ATT), low noise amplifier (LNA), power amplifier (PA), and driver amplifier (AMP). Through the virtual negative voltage bias and transmission-line based phase shifter, an RMS phase error less than 3° is achieved with 5.6° steps at 32–40 GHz. The amplitude control operates with 0.5 dB steps while maintaining an RMS gain error of 0.4 dB. The transceiver also integrates serial peripheral interface (SPI), power manager and temperature sensor. The transmitter consumes 28 mA from a 3.3 V supply, and the receiver consumes 16 mA from a 3.3 V supply, 35 mA from a 5 V supply. The chip occupies an area of 5.8 × 2.7 mm2.