A 77 GHz mHEMT MMIC Chip Set for Automotive Radar Systems

Abstract

A monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) chip set consisting of a power amplifier, a driver amplifier, and a frequency doubler has been developed for automotive radar systems at 77 GHz. The chip set was fabricated using a 0.15 µm gate‐length InGaAs/InAlAs/GaAs metamorphic high electron mobility transistor (mHEMT) process based on a 4‐inch substrate. The power amplifier demonstrated a measured small signal gain of over 20 dB from 76 to 77 GHz with 15.5 dBm output power. The chip size is 2 mm × 2 mm. The driver amplifier exhibited a gain of 23 dB over a 76 to 77 GHz band with an output power of 13 dBm. The chip size is 2.1 mm × 2 mm. The frequency doubler achieved an output power of –6 dBm at 76.5 GHz with a conversion gain of −16 dB for an input power of 10 dBm and a 38.25 GHz input frequency. The chip size is 1.2 mm × 1.2 mm. This MMIC chip set is suitable for the 77 GHz automotive radar systems and related applications in a W‐band.

W‐Band MMIC chipset in 0.1‐μm mHEMT technology

“…ETRI has been making efforts to develop its own semiconductor processing technology for this purpose. In concert with these efforts, we have been researching metamorphic high electron mobility transistor (mHEMT) technology for many years and have achieved the development of mHEMT technology with 0.15-μm length, and published the performance verification of a 77 GHz monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) using the developed technology [3,4]. This paper is intended to report on the results of the subsequent research, the development of mHEMT technology with 0.1-μm gate length, and the performance verification of a 94 GHz MMIC using the developed technology.…”

CMOS bandpass filters for 77 GHz automotive radar systems

“…GaAs and SiGe technologies are viable solutions for such applications in terms of technological requirements [1,2]. However, for reasons of low-cost and reliable high volume production, an all-CMOS chip solution has always been a long-term goal.…”

“…Transformers have been widely employed in the silicon RFIC design [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. However, not too much study has been done along the direction of GaAs transformers even though GaAs technologies entered the GHz regime well before the silicon technology.…”

A D-Band Subharmonically-Pumped Resistive Mixer Based on a 100 nm MHEMT Technology

“…Despite the excellent high-frequency and lownoise properties, InP has important disadvantages, such as material cost and mechanical fragility. These obstacles have been overcome by the GaAs metamorphic HEMT (mHEMT) technology [6]. An active dual-gate SHP mixer based on a GaAs mHEMT technology is shown in [7].…”