A Broadband 25 to 42 GHz SiGe Upconverter

Milner, Leigh E.; Hall, Leonard; Chakraborty, Sudipta; Ritchie, Charles G.; Heimlich, Michael

doi:10.1109/ams48904.2020.9059523

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…The performance offered is sufficient for the majority of applications. However, SiGe remains relevant in some applications, i.e., when high output power is required, such as in up-converters targeting mm-wave 5G transmitters [85][86][87]. Regarding linearity, passive mixers are also well known for their excellent behavior which brings some welcome degrees of freedom in the design of LNA-mixer front-ends.…”

Section: Mixersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Two factors restrict its linearity: the transconductance amplifier saturation when input voltage exceeds a few U T , and the output voltage swing limitation due to voltage headroom of tail current, differential amplifier and mixing stages. When CMOS versions do not deviate much from Gilbert's original design, OCP values seem to stay well behind SiGe [87,88]. However, improvements allowing CMOS to come closer to SiGe are possible by combining several linearization techniques.…”

Section: Mixersmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Evolution Trends and Paradigms of Low Noise Frequency Synthesis and Signal Conversion Using Silicon Technologies

2022

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Silicon technologies for HF applications have been proven for more than two decades, and technologies have greatly evolved. Whether CMOS or BiCMOS technologies, the unique combination of radio frequency, baseband, and digital functions allow a very high level of integration. While it is possible to achieve fully integrated transceivers, the major advantages of these silicon technologies lie mainly in their unparalleled performance in the field of frequency synthesis and frequency conversion. We propose in this paper a review of the major results obtained on these RF components since the beginning of the 2000s, also considering the impact of the technology node. The back-end of line (BEOL) process on which depends the quality of microwave monolithic integrated circuits (MMICs) is briefly presented in the introductory part. If circuit performances are tightly bound to the active devices (i.e., the heterojunction bipolar transistor SiGe HBT or CMOS transistor), passive elements (i.e., quality factor of inductors and varactors, losses of transmission, or interconnection lines) as well as the definition of the substrate also play a major role. The core of the article is oriented toward the noise of synthesized signals and frequency conversion. Frequency synthesis is presented through the analog design of a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) or through the direct digital frequency synthesis (DDFS), for which respective figures of merit are presented and discussed in a second section. The spectral purity of the oscillators being decisive in the definition of the throughput of a link is approached through the comparison of different figures of merit (FoM) for a set of circuits achievements over the selected period. If the realization of free oscillators is closely bound to the phase-locked loop (PLL)-type control loop for VCOs, the DDFS solution provides more direct and more flexible alternative at first sight. Therefore, these two solutions are analyzed collectively. Finally, the oscillator integrated in the transmitter or receiver supplies the needed LO (local oscillator) power to the frequency mixer in the frequency conversion module: henceforth, the third part of this study focuses on high-frequency mixer realizations. We thus consider this LO power in some advanced figure of merit mentioned in the second section. The design trade-off of the mixer is presented in an approach combining LO (conversion gain, channel isolation, and phase noise) and RF (HF noise figure and channel isolation) constraints. The final section provides a summary of the results and trends mentioned in the paper.

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Section: Mixersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Mixersmentioning

confidence: 99%