A 50-Gb/s Compact RadCom E-Band Transmitter With Phase-Controlled Push–Push Quadrupler and Stacked-FET Power Amplifier

Abstract

We present a 66–79-GHz transmitter (TX) in 40-nm CMOS technology for radar and communication (RadCom) systems. To accommodate the technical requirements for RadCom systems, such as wideband operation with high linearity, a compact TX was implemented with a stacked-FET power amplifier (PA), upconverting passive mixer, and a phase-controlled push–push frequency quadrupler. The TX exhibits OP1dB and bandwidth of 13.0 dBm and 13 GHz or more, respectively, which are suitable for mid-range sensing up to 100 m with the minimum range resolution of 0.15 m or less and several tens of Gb/s short-range data transmission. In a back-to-back test, the rms error vector magnitude of −21.4 dB was achieved for 50-Gb/s 32-QAM signals occupying 13-GHz bandwidth with an output power of 4 dBm at the PA output. The total core area of the TX is 0.19 mm2.