A Ka-Band Balanced Four-Beam Phased-Array Receiver With Symmetrical Beam-Distribution Network in 65-nm CMOS

Abstract

This paper demonstrates a Ka-band CMOS phased-array receiver capable of generating four balanced beams from two inputs. A passive four-beam symmetrical differential network is proposed to distribute two input signals to eight channels and facilitate beam generation at the outputs in the receiver. The detailed design and optimization of the passive four-beam differential network are presented. Using a 6-bit passive vector-modulated phase shifter and a 5-bit switched-type attenuator in each channel, we implement a phase control of 360°with < 4°RMS phase error and a gain control of 17 dB with <0.35 dB RMS gain error from 27 to 31 GHz. The receiver consumes a current of only 40 mA under 1 V supply voltage. Eight channels of the four-beam phased-array receiver were measured and a gain mismatch of less than 0.3 dB has been achieved. Beam to beam couplings are investigated by measurements and beam-tobeam isolation are better than 32 dB from 27 to 31 GHz. The chip size is 2.6×4 mm 2 including all digital control circuitry and pads.INDEX TERMS symmetrical beam-distribution network, CMOS, integrated circuits, millimeter wave, phase shifter, phased array, receiver, Wilkinson power combiner, satellite communications.

A Ka-Band 3-Bit GaN Digital Step Attenuator Using Phase Compensation Method

“…The RMS amplitude error is similar to the ref. [17] with the same 2) input power for 0.1 dB compression, 3) part number.…”

“…In order to solve the problem of the mm-wave band for such 5G applications, a beamforming system and a small cell technology have been introduced [1], [2]. When implementing a beamforming system by arranging communication modules into multi-channels, the roles of phase shifters, variable gain amplifiers, and attenuators become important [3]. Among them, attenuators are used for various purposes, such as controlling the side lobe of the antenna beam pattern and correcting the channel signal of the array system.…”