10-GHz band 2 × 2 phased-array radio frequency receiver with 8-bit linear phase control and 15-dB gain control range using 65-nm complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor technology

Abstract

We propose a 10-GHz 2 × 2 phased-array radio frequency (RF) receiver with an 8-bit linear phase and 15-dB gain control range using 65-nm complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor technology. An 8 × 8 phased-array receiver module is implemented using 16 2 × 2 RF phased-array integrated circuits. The receiver chip has four single-to-differential low-noise amplifier and gain-controlled phase-shifter (GCPS) channels, four channel combiners, and a 50-Ω driver. Using a novel complementary bias technique in a phase-shifting core circuit and an equivalent resistance-controlled resistor–inductor–capacitor load, the GCPS based on vector–sum structure increases the phase resolution with weighting-factor controllability, enabling the vector–sum phase-shifting circuit to require a low current and small area due to its small 1.2-V supply. The 2 × 2 phased-array RF receiver chip has a power gain of 21 dB per channel and a 5.7-dB maximum single-channel noise-figure gain. The chip shows 8-bit phase states with a 2.39° root mean-square (RMS) phase error and a 0.4-dB RMS gain error with a 15-dB gain control range for a 2.5° RMS phase error over the 10 to10.5-GHz band.