A V-Band FMCW Signal Generator With Hybrid Dual-Path VCO Technique Achieving 13.6-GHz Chirp Bandwidth

This brief presents a V-band frequency-modulation continuous wave (FMCW) signal generator for high-resolution radar applications. The proposed hybrid dual-path voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) employs a digital-assisted capacitance decoding scheme, fully utilizing the tunable capacitance to achieve wideband chirping while maintaining high chirp linearity. To verify the proposed scheme, a radar transceiver with two transmit (TX) channels, and four receive (RX) channels is designed and fabricated in a 65-nm CMOS process. The FMCW signal generator occupies 2.98 mm2 and consumes 120 mW. A measured maximum chirp bandwidth of 13.6 GHz is achieved at TX output with an rms frequency error of 0.008%. The measured phase noise of the VCO is −97.37 dBc/Hz at a 1-MHz offset from a 60-GHz carrier. The proposed FMCW signal generator demonstrates a state-of-the-art chirp bandwidth at V-band.