Common-Base/Common-Gate Millimeter-Wave Power Detectors

The principle of two common base/gate millimeter-wave power detectors is analyzed and validated by experimental results. The detectors have been designed for automatic level control and built-in-test millimeter-wave applications. Closed-form expressions are derived for the transfer characteristic as well as for the noise behavior of each detector. The circuits are fabricated in a BiCMOS 55 nm ( ft/fmax = 320 GHz/370 GHz) process from STMicroelectronics. Each detector occupies an area of 80 × 80 μm2 and exhibits a relatively high input impedance at 60 GHz. Measurements show a detection dynamic range larger than 38 dB and a flat response over the 50-66 GHz bandwidth, for both detectors. Common-base detector shows a wider linear detection range than that of the common-gate one. Theoretical computation and computer simulation show that, for square-law detection, the minimum detectable input power (for SNR = 10 dB) is around - 41 dBm for the common-gate detector against - 50 dBm for the common-base one. In their nominal bias conditions, the detectors' power consumption, under 1.2 V supply voltage, is 90 μW for low input power and it increases to about 800 μW for 8.5 dBm input power. These performances are beyond the current state-of-the-art of millimeter-wave detectors.

[1]  J. Fellrath.  Shot noise behaviour of subthreshold MOS transistors , 1978 .

[2]  Ayssar Serhan,et al.  Efficiency enhancement using adaptive bias control for 60GHz power amplifier , 2015, 2015 IEEE 13th International New Circuits and Systems Conference (NEWCAS).

[3]  Fei Gong,et al.  A Low-Power Ultrawideband CMOS Power Detector With an Embedded Amplifier , 2010, IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement.

[4]  Alberto Valdes-Garcia,et al.  A Broadband CMOS Amplitude Detector for On-Chip RF Measurements , 2008, IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement.

[5]  Qing Liu,et al.  Low-power ultra-wideband power detector IC in 130 nm CMOS technology , 2012, 2012 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Workshop Series on Millimeter Wave Wireless Technology and Applications.

[6]  Eric Kerherve,et al.  A 60GHz 65nm CMOS RMS power detector for antenna impedance mismatch detection , 2009, 2009 Proceedings of ESSCIRC.

[7]  Salvador Mir,et al.  Sensors for built-in alternate RF test , 2010, 2010 15th IEEE European Test Symposium.

[8]  J.W. Haslett,et al.  A Wideband Power Detection System Optimized for the UWB Spectrum , 2009, IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits.

[9]  Laurent Dussopt,et al.  A low power 60-GHz 2.2-Gbps UWB transceiver with integrated antennas for short range communications , 2013, 2013 IEEE Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits Symposium (RFIC).

[10]  Youngwoo Kwon,et al.  A Broadband Logarithmic Power Detector in 0.13-$\mu$m CMOS , 2013, IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters.

[11]  Jean-Michel Fournier,et al.  A 700MHz output bandwidth, 30dB dynamic range, common-base mm-wave power detector , 2015, 2015 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium.

[12]  Chih-Ho Tu,et al.  Linear radio frequency power detector , 2009, 2009 Asia Pacific Microwave Conference.

[13]  Qizhang Yin,et al.  Bipolar Microwave RMS Power Detectors , 2006, IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits.

[14]  M. Kouwenhoven,et al.  A 2GHz mean-square power detector with integrated offset chopper , 2005, ISSCC. 2005 IEEE International Digest of Technical Papers. Solid-State Circuits Conference, 2005..

[15]  Jean-Michel Fournier,et al.  A V-Band BiCMOS power detector for millimeter-wave applications , 2013, 2013 25th International Conference on Microelectronics (ICM).

[16]  Jian Zhang,et al.  A compact V-band active SiGe power detector , 2012, 2012 7th European Microwave Integrated Circuit Conference.

[17]  L. Yan,et al.  A SiGe Power Amplifier With Power Detector And VSWR Protection For TD-SCDMA Application , 2006, Proceedings of the International Conference Mixed Design of Integrated Circuits and System, 2006. MIXDES 2006..

[18]  F. Korndorfer,et al.  60 GHz transceiver circuits in SiGe:C BiCMOS technology , 2004, Proceedings of the 30th European Solid-State Circuits Conference.

[19]  Tao Zhang,et al.  A translinear RMS detector for embedded test of RF ICs , 2005, IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement.

[20]  M. Kaynak,et al.  SiGe wideband power detector and IF-amplifier RFICs for W-band passive imaging systems , 2013, CAS 2013 (International Semiconductor Conference).

[21]  U.R. Pfeiffer,et al.  A 20 dBm Fully-Integrated 60 GHz SiGe Power Amplifier With Automatic Level Control , 2007, IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits.

[22]  Tao Zhang,et al.  A novel 5GHz RF power detector , 2004, 2004 IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems (IEEE Cat. No.04CH37512).

[23]  L. Moquillon,et al.  CMOS 45‐nm 3D metal‐oxide‐metal capacitors for millimeter wave applications , 2011 .

[24]  Ching-Wen Tang,et al.  A linear-in-dB radio-frequency power detector , 2011, 2011 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium.

[25]  Yijun Zhou,et al.  A Low-Power Ultra-Wideband CMOS True RMS Power Detector , 2008, IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques.

[26]  M. Fanciulli,et al.  CMOS fully compatible microwave detector based on MOSFET operating in resistive regime , 2005, IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters.

[27]  Rudolf Lachner,et al.  A true-RMS integrated power sensor for on-chip calibration , 2014, 2014 IEEE Bipolar/BiCMOS Circuits and Technology Meeting (BCTM).

[28]  Michael Yan Wah Chia,et al.  A wide band CMOS RF power detector , 2006, 2006 IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems.

[29]  Toshihiko Mori,et al.  A real-time temperature-compensated CMOS RF on-chip power detector with high linearity for wireless applications , 2012, 2012 Proceedings of the ESSCIRC (ESSCIRC).