Naoyuki Orihashi

TX and RX Front-Ends for 60GHz Band in 90nm Standard Bulk CMOS

This paper describes the design of a mm-wave power amplifier PA with reliability considerations for hot carrier injection (HCI) degradation. A 60GHz-band single-chip transmitter front- end with an output power of 6dBm for 2.6 Gb/s QPSK modulation and a single-chip receiver front-end are implemented in a standard IV 90 nm CMOS technology.

Multiple Sector ID Capture (MIDC): A Novel Beamforming Technique for 60-GHz Band Multi-Gbps WLAN/PAN Systems

A novel beamforming (BF) technique (MIDC: Multiple sector-ID Capture) is proposed for 60-GHz band WLAN/PAN systems. In contrast to conventional BF techniques adopted in 60-GHz band standards, where quasi-omni (Q-omni) antenna radiation patterns are utilized, MIDC precisely detects the best link even when the Q-omni pattern is imperfect. Furthermore, it can reserve multiple antenna settings corresponding to existing communication links in the initial training by making use of the quasi-optical nature of millimeter-waves. This enables fast beam switching when link blockage occurs. The training is executed in short durations by putting together DoA/DoD-estimation and “beam-combining” techniques. The basic function of MIDC is verified experimentally in a simple multipath propagation environment by using our 60-GHz CMOS transceiver LSIs integrated with planar phased-array antennas. MIDC has been adopted in the MAC/PHY specification of the primary 60-GHz band standards: WiGig (Wireless Gigabit Alliance) and IEEE 802.11ad.

A 60-GHz band CMOS phased array transmitter utilizing compact baseband phase shifters

A 60-GHz band phased array transmitter is developed based on 90-nm CMOS process featuring compact baseband phase shifters with ideally zero power consumption. The phase shifter changes an RF signal phase every π/2 by switching baseband signal paths. The transmitter has 6 RF front-ends and 6 phase shifters to implement beam steering function for a 1 × 6 array antenna system. Each of the RF front-ends exhibits typically a power of 0 dBm at 1-dB compression point, a conversion gain of 15 dB, and a 3-dB bandwidth of 600 MHz. By controlling phase shifters, the beam steering from 0 to 60 degree is observed. The chip size is 5 mm × 2.5 mm. The circuit consumes 960 mW at 1.0 V supply.

60-GHz-Band CMOS MMIC Technology for High-Speed Wireless Personal Area Networks

This paper presents recent progress on 60-GHz-band MMIC developments based on standard 90-nm CMOS technology. For a low-noise amplifier (LNA), a simple noise model is employed to facilitate efficient design in the millimeter- wave range. For a power amplifier (PA), a reliability issue due to degradation of hot carrier injection should be carefully considered for large-signal operation. To maximize output power while ensuring sufficient lifetime, we have established PA design process including co-simulation technique. The developed LNA achieves a noise figure of 5.7 dB with 13-dB gain at 63 GHz. On the other hand, PA exhibits a saturated output power of 8.5 dBm with 15.2-dB linear gain at 60 GHz with a supply voltage as low as 0.7 V where sufficient lifetime is expected. Finally, transmitter and receiver front-end circuits are demonstrated for 2.6-Gbps QPSK operation.