A 10.5–13 GHz 6-bit 360°Active vector modulator phase shifter with 0.42 dB/2.2°RMS magnitude/phase errors for phased array systems

This paper presents a 6-bit active phase shifter in a 65 nm CMOS technology. The core of this active phase shifter is a hybrid quadrature generator(HQG), an inter-stage matching network, and a vector modulator. In this work, a compact vertical transformer is used as the inter-stage matching network of hybrid quadrature generator and vector modulator to release the bandwidth bottleneck. Furthermore, this work proposes an adjustable resistor to prevent the process corners from affecting. Two 5-bit variable gain amplifiers in the I and Q paths form a 10-bit binary-weighted vector modulator. In 10.5–13 GHz, this 6-bit 360°phase shifter achieves a measured 5.625°step with 0.34–0.42 dB RMS magnitude error and 1.67–2.2°RMS phase error. The chip area is 0.69 ${mm}^2$, and DC power consumption is 10.5 mW.