Codesign of a PA–Antenna Block in Silicon Technology for 80-GHz Radar Application

This brief presents the codesign of a W-band power amplifier (PA) with a dipole antenna using a 0.13- <formula formulatype="inline"><tex Notation="TeX">$\mu\hbox{m}$</tex></formula> SiGe bipolar complementary metal oxide semiconductor (BiCMOS) process. The codesign allows the direct interconnection between the PA and the transmitter (Tx) antenna, suppressing the matching network between the two blocks and contributing to loss reduction, energy efficiency enhancement, and miniaturization. The design and the measured results of the monolithic integrated circuit are reported. The 79-GHz differential PA delivers 17 dBm of maximum output power. The chip consumes 300 mA with a 1.8-V supply voltage. The gain of the dipole antenna is <formula formulatype="inline"><tex Notation="TeX">$-$</tex></formula> 14 dBi in the forward direction and <formula formulatype="inline"><tex Notation="TeX">$-$</tex></formula>8.5 dBi in the backward direction. The PA and the antenna size are 0.7 and 0.75 <formula formulatype="inline"><tex Notation="TeX">$\hbox{mm}^{2}$</tex> </formula>, respectively. The PA/antenna achieves a maximum power gain of 9.4 dB at 77 GHz and an effective isotropic radiated power of 8.5 dBm.

[1]  Y.C. Chen,et al.  A 427 mW, 20% compact W-band InP HEMT MMIC power amplifier , 1999, 1999 IEEE Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits Symposium (Cat No.99CH37001).

[2]  J. Kirchgessner,et al.  SiGe 77GHz Automotive Radar Technology , 2007, 2007 IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems.

[3]  Kin-Fai Tong,et al.  Performance of millimeter-wave coplanar patch antennas on low-k materials , 2005 .

[4]  P. F. Alleaume,et al.  GAAS MMICS FOR AUTOMOTIVE RADAR APPLICATIONS , 1998 .

[5]  F. Gallee,et al.  A Compact Lens-Primary Source Structure for Avoidance Radar System , 2001, 2001 31st European Microwave Conference.

[7]  F. Gianesello,et al.  Silicon full integrated LNA, filter and antenna system beyond 40 GHz for MMW wireless communication links in advanced CMOS technologies , 2006, IEEE Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits (RFIC) Symposium, 2006.

[8]  E. Hammerstad,et al.  Accurate Models for Microstrip Computer-Aided Design , 1980, 1980 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave symposium Digest.

[9]  O.S.A. Tang,et al.  Very high efficiency V-band power InP HEMT MMICs , 2000, IEEE Electron Device Letters.

[10]  W. Struble,et al.  Instabilities diagnosis and the role of K in microwave circuits , 1993, 1993 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium Digest.

[11]  V. Subramanian,et al.  A 60 GHz SiGe-HBT Power Amplifier With 20% PAE at 15 dBm Output Power , 2008, IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters.

[12]  C.-Y. Hsu,et al.  A 60-GHz millimeter-wave CMOS RFIC-on-chip triangular monopole antenna for WPAN applications , 2007, 2007 IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society International Symposium.

[13]  Gabriel M. Rebeiz,et al.  Wafer-scale W-band power amplifiers using on-chip antennas , 2010, 2010 IEEE Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits Symposium.

[14]  J. Rollett.  Stability and Power-Gain Invariants of Linear Twoports , 1962 .

[15]  R.J. Fontana,et al.  An ultra wideband radar for micro air vehicle applications , 2002, 2002 IEEE Conference on Ultra Wideband Systems and Technologies (IEEE Cat. No.02EX580).

[16]  H.-M. Rein,et al.  Fully integrated SiGe VCOs with powerful output buffer for 77-GHz automotive Radar systems and applications around 100 GHz , 2004, IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits.

[17]  A. Babakhani,et al.  A 77-GHz Phased-Array Transceiver With On-Chip Antennas in Silicon: Transmitter and Local LO-Path Phase Shifting , 2006, IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits.

[18]  Eric Kerherve,et al.  79GHz BiCMOS single-ended and differential power amplifiers , 2010, The 5th European Microwave Integrated Circuits Conference.

[19]  J. Thornton.  Properties of Spherical Lens Antennas for High Altitude Platform Communications , 2004 .

[20]  M. Sun,et al.  On-chip antennas for 60-GHz radios in silicon technology , 2005, IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices.

[21]  Huey-Ru Chuang,et al.  A 60 GHz millimeter-wave CMOS RFIC-on-chip dipole antenna , 2007 .

[22]  D. Celi,et al.  230-GHz self-aligned SiGeC HBT for optical and millimeter-wave applications , 2005, IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits.

[23]  Yu Su,et al.  Communication Using Antennas Fabricated in Silicon Integrated Circuits , 2007, IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits.

[24]  D. Goren,et al.  SiGe transformer matched power amplifier for operation at millimeter-wave frequencies , 2005, Proceedings of the 31st European Solid-State Circuits Conference, 2005. ESSCIRC 2005..

[25]  Christian Person,et al.  Millimeter-wave antenna designs for 60 GHz applications: SoC and SiP approaches , 2011, International Journal of Microwave and Wireless Technologies.

[26]  K.H.G. Duh,et al.  A 560 mW, 21% power-added efficiency V-band MMIC power amplifier , 1996, GaAs IC Symposium IEEE Gallium Arsenide Integrated Circuit Symposium. 18th Annual Technical Digest 1996.

[27]  Hossein Hashemi,et al.  Integrated Phased Array Systems in Silicon , 2005, Proceedings of the IEEE.

[28]  W. Marsden.  I and J , 2012 .

[29]  Cheng-Ying Hsu,et al.  A 60-GHz Millimeter-Wave CPW-Fed Yagi Antenna Fabricated by Using 0.18- $\mu\hbox{m}$ CMOS Technology , 2008, IEEE Electron Device Letters.

[30]  Hans-Martin Rein,et al.  A novel transistor model for simulating avalanche-breakdown effects in Si bipolar circuits , 2002 .

[32]  Danny Elad,et al.  A high gain wideband 77GHz SiGe power amplifier , 2010, 2010 IEEE Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits Symposium.

[33]  A. Babakhani,et al.  mm-wave phased arrays in silicon with integrated antennas , 2007, 2007 IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society International Symposium.

[34]  Xiaojun Yuan,et al.  A low power 60GHz OOK transceiver system in 90nm CMOS with innovative on-chip AMC antenna , 2009, 2009 IEEE Asian Solid-State Circuits Conference.

[35]  U.R. Pfeiffer.  A 20dBm Fully-Integrated 60GHz SiGe Power Amplifier with Automatic Level Control , 2006, 2006 Proceedings of the 32nd European Solid-State Circuits Conference.

[36]  Fabien Ferrero,et al.  A novel fully-automatic 3D radiation pattern measurement setup for 60 GHz probe-fed antennas , 2011, 2011 IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation (APSURSI).

[37]  U.R. Pfeiffer,et al.  A 77 GHz SiGe power amplifier for potential applications in automotive radar systems , 2004, 2004 IEE Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits (RFIC) Systems. Digest of Papers.

[38]  C. Person,et al.  On-wafer radiation pattern measurements of integrated antennas on standard BiCMOS and glass processes for 40-80GHz applications , 2005, Proceedings of the 2005 International Conference on Microelectronic Test Structures, 2005. ICMTS 2005..

[39]  C. Inui,et al.  On-Chip S-Shaped Rat-Race Balun for Millimeter-Wave Band Using Wafer-Level Chip-Size Package Process , 2008, 2008 European Microwave Integrated Circuit Conference.

[40]  R. Plana,et al.  Design techniques and considerations for mmwave SiGe power amplifiers , 2009, 2009 SBMO/IEEE MTT-S International Microwave and Optoelectronics Conference (IMOC).