A 3.8-dB NF, 23-40GHz Phased-Array Receiver with 14-Bit Phase & Gain Manager and Calibration-Free Dual-Mode 28-52dB Image Rejection Ratio for 5G NR

The ever-increasing demands on the high data-rate and high signal-to-noise ratio accelerate the development of high-performance millimeter-wave phased-array systems, especially for 5G NR at 24, 28, 37, and 39GHz bands. However, the reports of the wideband phased-array receiver (RX) [1]–[6] that can fully cover the 24/28/37/39 GHz bands are limited. The suppression of image-signal located at the RF passband is the main challenge for such wideband RX array. Meanwhile, the phase resolution and dynamic range of the phased-array RX should be improved to support multiple applications. This work presents a 23-40GHz phased-array RX in a 40-nm CMOS technology. The proposed phased-array RX consists of a 14-bit phase & gain manager and a noise-cancelling low noise amplifier (LNA). The phase & gain manager with the capacity of rearranging the phase- and gain-control bit can not only provide a maximum 14-bit phase tuning operation and >35dB gain variation range, but also achieve a 28-52dB calibration-free image rejection ratio (IRR) at 23-40GHz by the dual-mode operation. The fabricated chip can support 3Gb/s, 64-QAM and 2.4Gb/s, 256-QAM modulation signal.