A BiCMOS Dual-Band Millimeter-Wave Frequency Synthesizer for Automotive Radars

Analog Integrated Circuits and Signal Processing, 2016

A highly linear and fully-integrated frequencymodulated continuous-wave (FMCW) generator based on a fractional-N phase-locked loop (PLL) that is able to synthesize modulation schemes in 57-64 GHz range is proposed in this paper. The fractional-N PLL employs Colpitts voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) at 60 GHz with 13.5% tuning range. Automatic amplitude and frequency calibrations are implemented to avoid drifts due to process, voltage and temperature variations and to set the center frequency of the VCO. Five-stage multi-modulus divider is used for division ratio switching, controlled by the sigma-delta (RD) modulator MASH 1-1-1. The frequency sweep (chirp) bandwidth and duration are fully programmable via serial peripheral interface allowing up to 16 different chirps in complex modulation scheme. The PLL reference signal is 250 MHz provided by external low-noise signal generator which is also used for digital modules clock. The overall PLL phase noise is lower than −80 dBc/Hz at 10 kHz offset and the chirp linearity is better than 0.01%. The complete FMCW synthesizer is implemented and verified as a stand-alone chip in a commercially available SiGe HBT 130 nm BiCMOS technology. The total chip area is 2:04 mm 2 , and the total power consumption is 280 mW.

2008

Abstract The design of a millimeter-wave dual-band phase-locked frequency synthesizer in a 0.18 mum SiGe BiCMOS technology is presented. All circuits except the voltage controlled oscillators (VCOs) are shared between the two bands. A W-band divide-by-3 frequency divider is used inside the loop after the VCOs to simplify division-ratio reconfiguration. The 0.9 mm 2 synthesizer chip exhibits a locking range of 23.8-26.95/75.67-78. 5 GHz with a low power consumption of 50-75 mW from a 2.5 V supply.

Microwave and Optical Technology Letters, 2013

This article presents a 24/77-GHz transmitter chipset for automotive radar sensors implemented in a 160/175-GHz f T /f max SiGe BiCMOS technology. The chipset adopts a dual-band architecture consisting of a 24-GHz section for ultra-wideband short-range radar operation, which is also exploited to drive the 77-GHz long-range radar transmitter front-end. The proposed design adopts a single 24-GHz frequency synthesizer to implement both radar operation modes. The transmitter chipset is able to deliver a maximum output power of 3 dBm and 12 dBm at 24 GHz and 77 GHz, respectively. The 24-GHz transmitter demonstrates to operate with pulse widths of 0.5 ns and 1 ns in compliance with the transmission mask designed by ETSI. The 77-GHz transmitter exhibits a power gain of 20 dB, an output power of 12 dBm, and an output referred 1-dB compression point of 9.5 dBm, while drawing 155 mA from a 2.5-V supply voltage. V

International Journal of Infrared and Millimeter Waves, 1994

This paper is concerned with description of development of commercial millimeterwave frequency synthesizer promised by authors in previous paper . Synthesizer described has highest for commercial synthesizers at the moment frequency range 118 GHz -178 GHz and due to the use in it of Russian -made Backward Wave Oscillator (BWO) radiation source of the [2] type has continuous tunability range'as broad as 60 GHz and significant -from 3 to 10 m W -output power in the whole range covered. Minimal frequency step is 100 Hz. Synthesizer is fully microprocessor -or PC -(through IEEE-488) controlled. Mentioned are other members of this synthesizer family (37 -53 GHz, 53 -78 GHz, 78 -118 GHz) also now in production (general information about development of Russian frequency synthesizers from 1.07 GHz up to 118.1 GHz can be found in ). Possibility of further extension of frequency range up to 256 GHz in serial and up to 1 THz in laboratory versions (see )is considered.

2009

Abstract Integration of multi-mode multi-band transceivers on a single chip will enable low-cost millimeter-wave systems for next-generation automotive radar sensors. The first dual-band millimeter-wave transceiver operating in the 22-29-GHz and 77-81-GHz short-range automotive radar bands is designed and implemented in 0.18-¿ m SiGe BiCMOS technology with f T/f max of 200/180 GHz.

IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, 2009

In the last few years, silicon-based 24GHz short-range automotive radars have been investigated both by industry and academia [1,2]. Intensive research/development is also underway for developing 77GHz long-range [3] and 77-to-81GHz short-range radars [4] in silicon technologies. While ETSI will discontinue the use of the 24GHz allocation for automotive short-range sensors in mid-2013 [5], thereafter mandating a shift to 79GHz, mature 24GHz technology will continue to dominate non-European markets. Therefore, next-generation radar sensors may well be required to support both frequency bands, for compatibility and lower overall cost. This paper presents a dual-band millimeterwave (mmWave) transceiver (TRX) in a 0.18µm BiCMOS technology (f T /f max =200/180GHz). The dual-band TRX operates in the 22-to-29GHz and 77to-81GHz short-range automotive radar bands.

2007 IEEE Compound Semiconductor Integrated Circuits Symposium, 2007

We present a fully integrated phase-locked loop tunable from 17.5 GHz to 19.2 GHz fabricated in a 0.25 µm SiGe BiCMOS technology. The measured phase noise is below -110 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz offset over the whole tuning range. Based on an integer-N architecture, the synthesizer consumes 248 mW and occupies a chip area of 2.1 mm 2 including pads. Quadrature outputs at quarter of the oscillator frequency are produced, which are required in a sliding-IF 24 GHz transceiver. Possible applications include wireless LAN as well as satellite communication. The measured phase noise is the lowest among previously published Si-based integrated synthesizers above 12 GHz. Index Terms -Phase-locked loop, wireless LAN, SiGe, BiCMOS, phase noise, 24 GHz.

IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters, 2014

A distributed differential frequency tripler covering the 30-90 GHz range is implemented in IBM SiGe technology. The distributed design utilizes a right-handed input and a left-handed output synthesized transmission lines to overcome the challenging fundamental rejection. Six cascode stages in deep saturation act as frequency generators connected in a differential configuration for even harmonic suppression. Operation is demonstrated for 30 to 90 GHz output range with minimum spur rejection of better than 10 dBc between 43 to 79 GHz. Output power varies between at 72 GHz and reaches at 45 GHz. The core circuit occupies only and draws 151 mA from a 2.4 V supply.

IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, 2016

This paper proposes a mm-wave frequency generation technique that improves its phase noise (PN) performance and power efficiency. The main idea is that a fundamental 20 GHz signal and its sufficiently strong third harmonic at 60 GHz are generated simultaneously in a single oscillator. The desired 60 GHz local oscillator (LO) signal is delivered to the output, whereas the 20 GHz signal can be fed back for phase detection in a phaselocked loop. Third-harmonic boosting and extraction techniques are proposed and applied to the frequency generator. A prototype of the proposed frequency generator is implemented in digital 40 nm CMOS. It exhibits a PN of −100 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz offset from 57.8 GHz and provides 25% frequency tuning range (TR). The achieved figure-of-merit (FoM) is between 179 and 182 dBc/Hz.

IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, 2013

An integrated frequency agile quadrature-band receiver is presented in this paper. The complete receiver is realized in a commercial m SiGe:C technology with an of 170/250 GHz. The receiver covers the two point-to-point communication bands from 71 to 76 GHz and from 81 to 86 GHz and the automotive radar band at 77 GHz. A wide tuning range modified Colpitts oscillator provides a local oscillator (LO) tuning range 30. A two-stage constant phase RC polyphase network is implemented to provide wideband in-phase quadrature LO signals. The measured phase imbalance of the network stays below 8 over the receiver's frequency range. In addition the chip includes a wideband low-noise amplifier, Wilkinson power divider, down conversion mixers, and frequency prescaler. Each of the chip's receiver I/Q paths shows a measured conversion gain above 19 dB and an input referred 1-dB compression point of 22 dBm. The receiver's measured noise figure stays below 11 dB over the complete frequency range. Furthermore, the receiver has a measured IF bandwidth of 6 GHz. The complete chip including prescaler draws a current of 230 mA from a 3.3-V supply, and consumes a chip area of 1628 m 1528 m. Index Terms-band, low-noise amplifier (LNA), polyphase, quadrature generation, voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO), wideband receiver. I. INTRODUCTION A RAPID growth can be observed in the field of millimeterwave circuits and systems, which is closely related to the ongoing evolution in silicon technology. There are several important applications allocated within the-band, including short-range wireless high-definition (HD) video transmission and industrial radar [1] at 60-GHz last-mile wireless point-topoint high data-rate communication at the two bands of (lower) Manuscript