Saverio Trotta

A D-band transceiver front-end for broadband applications in a 0.35μm SiGe bipolar technology

This paper presents a D-band transceiver front-end with twin quadrature receivers fabricated in a low cost 0.35μm SiGe bipolar production technology, featuring HBTs with fT/fmax of 200/250 GHz. The receiver achieves a minimum single-sideband noise figure of 14 dB, conversion gain greater than 23 dB and an input-referred 1-dB compression point of -9 dBm, at an IF of 10 MHz for input signals between 121-126 GHz. A three stage LO buffer amplifier in the receiver allows operation with LO power as low as -10 dBm. The measured amplitude and phase imbalance at 122 GHz are 1 dB and 6 deg respectively. The transmitter can be tuned from 112 GHz to 140 GHz and delivers a maximum output power of -2.5 dBm. The measured phase noise at 1 MHz offset is -102 dBc/Hz at 140 GHz. The maximum suppression of the V-band signal at the transmitter output is better than -25 dBc. The chip consumes 300 mA from a 3.3 V power supply.

A low-phase-noise monolithically integrated 60 GHz push-push VCO for 122 GHz applications in a SiGe bipolar technology

This paper presents a 60 GHz push-push VCO fabricated in an automotive qualified SiGe:C bipolar production technology with an ft of 170 GHz and fmax of 250 GHz. The VCO uses an AC coupled varactor and features a transmission line based biasing scheme for the varactor to improve the phase noise. The VCO can be tuned from 58.2 GHz to 63 GHz and achieves a minimum phase noise of -108 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz offset. The phase noise remains below -105 dBc/Hz over the entire tuning range. The VCO consumes 145 mW from a 3.3 V power supply.

Co-simulation and co-design of chip-package-board interfaces in highly-integrated RF systems

The level of integration for RF and mm-wave systems is continuously increasing. Highly-integrated system on chip solutions have to be encapsulated in a package and assembled on a board. In addition, to be more attractive as a product, the trend goes towards further integration of passives and antennas in a package. This drives the system in package solutions. However, electrical properties of the package and board may have a significant effect on system parameters, especially at high frequencies. Hence, layout features of package and board must be carefully modelled and considered during the design. Furthermore, it is often insufficient to model chip, package and board separately, as some high-frequency effects may not be captured. An example is electromagnetic coupling between integrated coils on chip and routing traces in package. In this paper we describe considerations on co-simulation and co-design of highly-integrated RF systems by means of accurate electromagnetic modelling. We demonstrate the approach and various aspects of chip-package-board co-design based on examples of systems for various applications: 6 GHz VCO using embedded inductor; backhaul communication system in package for V-band and E-band and a four-channel 77 GHz automotive radar transceiver in a package with four dipole antennas.