Abstract
This article presents a novel Ka-band Marchand balun implemented in 0.13-μm SiGe bipolar complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (BiCMOS) process. By combining both edge- and broadside-coupled structures, the new hybrid balun is able to increase the coupling and minimize the balun insertion loss. As compared with conventional edge-coupled or broadside-coupled structures, the proposed balun achieves the lowest insertion loss of 1.02 dB across a wide 1-dB bandwidth from 29.0 GHz to 46.0 GHz, with a core size of 270 μm × 280 μm.
Highlights
Balun, which converts single ended signals into balanced signals is widely used in RF front-end modules, such as frequency multipliers, mixers which utilize differential signals for common-mode signal cancellation, and to improve port isolations
In [2], an asymmetric broadside coupled Marchand balun based on the modified off-center frequency method was proposed
It achieves a bandwidth of 34–110 GHz; it suffers from high insertion loss averaging around 3 dB
Summary
Balun, which converts single ended signals into balanced signals is widely used in RF front-end modules, such as frequency multipliers, mixers which utilize differential signals for common-mode signal cancellation, and to improve port isolations. Key performance specifications of a balun include insertion loss, amplitude/phase balance, and chip size These parameters are important in the design of millimeter-wave (MMW) circuits and systems [1]. In [2], an asymmetric broadside coupled Marchand balun based on the modified off-center frequency method was proposed It achieves a bandwidth of 34–110 GHz; it suffers from high insertion loss averaging around 3 dB. The proposed balun employs both edge- and broadside-coupled combined structures to enhance the coupling between the primary and secondary signals and, achieves a measured low insertion loss of 1.02 dB across a 1 dB bandwidth from 29.0 GHz to 46.0 GHz. Section 2 presents the detailed balun analysis and proposed balun design, Section 3 discusses the experiment results and makes a comparison with the state-of-the-art, and Section 4 draws the conclusion.
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