Roi Carmon

High-Performance E-Band Transceiver Chipset for Point-to-Point Communication in SiGe BiCMOS Technology

Two fully integrated chipsets covering the entire E-band frequency range, 71-76/81-86 GHz, have been demonstrated. These designs, which were implemented in 0.13- μm SiGe BiCMOS technology, use a sliding IF superheterodyne architecture. The receiver (Rx) chips include an image-reject low-noise amplifier, RF-to-IF mixer, variable gain IF amplifier (IF VGA), quadrature IF-to-baseband (BB) de-modulator, tunable BB filter, phase-locked loop (PLL) synthesizer, and a frequency quadrupler. At room temperature the Rx chips achieve a maximum gain of 73 dB, 6-dB noise figure, better than -12-dBm input third-order intercept point, more than 65-dB dynamic range, and consume 600 mW for lower band (LB) (71-76 GHz) and higher band (HB) (81-86 GHz) alike. The transmitter (Tx) chips include a power amplifier, image reject driver, variable RF attenuators, power detector, IF-to-RF up-converting mixer, IF VGA, quadrature BB-to-IF modulator, PLL, and a frequency multiplier. The Tx chips achieve a power 1-dB compression point (P1dB) of 17.5/16.6 dBm, saturated power (Psat) of 20.5/18.8 dBm on a single-ended output, up to 39-dB gain with an analog controlled dynamic range of 30 dB, and consumes 1.75/1.8 W for the LB and HB, respectively. This state-of-the-art performance enables the usage of complex modulations and high-capacity transmission.

The Closed Environment Concept in VLSI On-Chip Transmission Lines Design and Modeling

The paper examines the question of when and how can an on-chip transmission line have a stand-alone, independent model in the actual VLSI design environment. The study addresses a certain set of simple structures, covering most of practical VLSI design needs, which includes coplanar single and coupled structures. Based on theoretical analysis and numerical results, practical criteria of sufficiently closed transmission line environment are suggested, depending on the kind of designed interconnect, the frequency range, the transmission line type and geometry

A 16.2 Gbps 60 GHz SiGe transmitter for outdoor wireless links

A fully integrated 60 GHz transmitter in 130 nm BiCMOS SiGe technology for outdoor applications is presented. The transmitter covers the entire 57-66 GHz band supporting a record data rate of 16.2 Gbps at 6 dBm output power, 512 QAM with an EVM of -34 dB. The single ended saturated power, OP1dB, and OIP3 are above 18 dBm, 16 dBm and 23 dBm respectively. The transmitter meets the most stringent ETSI emission mask for point-to-point communication at class6LB, 500 MHz bandwidth with an output noise floor below -133 dBm/Hz. The area of the transmitter is 15 mm2 and it consumes 1.2 W.

A SiGe ku-band frequency doubler with 50% bandwidth and high harmonic suppression

A compact ×2 frequency multiplier covering all ku band is implemented in IBM 0.13μm SiGe technology. The transformer coupled circuit uses a common base configuration working in B- class mode and utilizes transmission lines properties to achieve harmonic suppression. The doubler covers a 3dB frequency range between 12.2 GHz to 20.4 GHz with a saturated output power above 9 dBm. The fundamental frequency is suppressed by over 27 dBc and the 4th harmonic is suppressed by more than 25 dBc across frequency band. The core design occupies only 550 μm × 620 μm and consumes 37 mW from a 2.7 V supply.

A 71–76GHz low noise amplifier with integrated image reject filter and single balanced down converter mixer

An RF receiver front end for EBAND communication in the lower band 71–76GHz frequency range was designed and fabricated in IBM 0.12μm SiGe technology. The LNA composed of four amplification stages, exhibits more than 15dB gain and a NF of less than 6dB in the entire frequency band. A steep two chain stop band filter is used to reject image noise with better than 18dB image rejection. The LNA is followed by a single balanced active down converting mixer used to convert the received signal to the 8.5GHz IF frequency. The measured mixer conversion gain is around 4.5dB with a NF of 14dB. The above performance enables a super-heterodyne realization of a complete EBAND receiver with excellent image rejection.

Highly Linear 60-GHz SiGe Downconversion/Upconversion Mixers

A linear RF to IF downconversion and IF to RF upconversion mixers for 60-GHz transceivers were implemented in 0.13-<inline-formula> <tex-math notation=LaTeX>

A 71–86GHz multi-tanh up-conversion mixer achieving +1dBm OP1dB in 0.13 μm SiGe technology

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A double balanced 81–86GHz EBAND active down conversion mixer in SiGe technology

</tex-math></inline-formula> SiGe technology. The mixers were implemented using a mixing core only topology for enhanced linearity, with no local oscillator (LO) buffers and a transformer-based matching network for IF frequencies. The downconversion mixer at full attenuation shows a minimum of 10-dBm IIP3 and maximum measured loss of 6.5 dB within the entire 57–66 GHz frequency band. Without attenuation, the conversion gain is above 4 dB, with better than 2-dBm IIP3 and a noise figure maximum value of 14 dB within the band. The transmit mixer exhibits less than 2.5-dB conversion loss, better than 7.5-dBm OIP3 with minimal temperature variations. For improved LO to RF isolation, separated dc bias control is used in the mixing devices providing over 46-dBc LO suppression within the band. The mixers occupy only 0.47 and 0.22 mm<inline-formula> <tex-math notation=LaTeX>

High power SiGe E-band transmitter for broadband communication

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HIGH CONVERSION GAIN HIGH SUPPRESSION BALANCED CASCODE FREQUENCY QUADRUPLER

</tex-math></inline-formula> consuming 56 mW for downconversion mixer with IF amplifier and 27 mW for upconversion mixer.