Broadband, High-Linearity Switches for Millimeter-Wave Mixers Using Scaled SOI CMOS

Abstract

This work demonstrates new circuit techniques in distributed-stacked-complimentary (DiSCo) switches that enable picosecond switching speed in RF CMOS SOI switches. By using series-stacked devices with optimized gate impedance and voltage swing, both high linearity and fast switching are possible. A theoretical analysis and design framework has been developed and verified through simulation and measurement through two broadband, high-linearity passive mixer designs, one optimized for linearity and the other for bandwidth, using a 45-nm SOI CMOS process. The mixers achieve P1dBs of 16-22 dBm with IIP3s of 25-34 dBm across a bandwidth from 1 GHz up to 30 GHz. This performance exceeds prior SOI RF and microwave mixer performance by more than an order of magnitude and is comparable to III-V device technologies. The mixers include integrated local oscillator (LO) driving amplifiers for high efficiency operation and low total power consumption. DC power consumption ranges from 250 mW to 1 W for the LO driver. The integrated LO drivers demonstrate a pathway to on-chip LO generation with simplified matching to maximize LO power delivered to the input of the switch.