14.5 A 1V W-Band Bidirectional Transceiver Front-End with <1dB T/R Switch Loss, <1°/dB Phase/Gain Resolution and 12.3% TX PAE at 15.1dBm Output Power in 65nm CMOS Technology

Abstract

Millimeter-wave (mm-wave) imaging radars and communication systems operating at W-band obtain an ever-increasing attention due to their high-resolution and high data rate [1] –[6]. However, because of the challenges of lower active device gain and greater passive loss, most W-Band transceivers (TRXs) do not integrate T/R switches and attenuators [1] –[6], which will significantly reduce the system performance and increase the cost. In this paper, we propose a W-band bidirectional phased-array TRX FE in a 65nm CMOS technology to support communication and radar applications in which three critical issues of higher mm-wave-band phased-array TRX FE have been initially dealt with: 1) the large insertion loss (IL) of the T/R switch, 2) the limited resolution and 3) gain/phase variation of the phase shifter (PS) and attenuator. The concept of EM coupling was applied in the W-band circuit design and the couple-based T/R switches, PSs and attenuators were integrated in the TRX FE, achieving <1dB T/R switch IL, > 12.3% peak PAE at 15.1dBm output power and <1°/dB phase/gain resolution with <±2.1dB/±6° gain/phase variation.