A 60 GHz compact single-chip sub-harmonically pumped receiver MMIC

Abstract

A 60 GHz compact single-chip sub-harmonically pumped receiver (RX) MMIC has been designed and characterized in a 0.15 mum, ~120 GHz fT/ >200 GHz fMAX GaAs mHEMT MMIC process. The single-chip multi-functional RX MMIC consists of a two-stage amplifier and a sub-harmonically pumped resistive mixer (SHPRM) with an ultra broadband active balun for the LO feed. The RX chip has a very flat frequency response and has only 0.3 dB of ripple between 60 and 65 GHz. A very broadband IF signal is possible with a 3 dB IF bandwidth of 6.8 GHz. The broadband IF is combined with a very good linearity, the input referred third order intercept point (IIP3) is as high as -5 dBm, making the receiver especially suitable for use in a homodync system, receiving data-rates of several Gbit/s. Those good results are obtained at a total DC power consumption as low as 154 mW.