A Master/Slave 55.5 – 64.8 GHz 4x4 FMCW Radar Transceiver in 130 nm SiGe BiCMOS for Massive MIMO Applications

This paper presents a scalable 60 GHz MIMO transceiver chip for the use in FMCW radar applications requiring high angular resolution. The 2.16 x 2.39 mm
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IC is fabricated in a 250/340 GHz fT/fmax of 0.13μm SiGe BiCMOS technology. With a maximum current consumption of 340 mA from 3.3 V single supply in TDM operation, the fully integrated transceiver employs 4 Tx and 4 Rx channels, each with gain and enable options to adjust for the application requirements. The Tx channel has a maximum output power of 12.5 dBm whereas the Rx channel achieves 18 dB conversion gain with -17 dBm IP1dB and below 9 dB noise figure in the full ISM band. Built-in-self-test blocks are integrated for both the Rx and Tx, respectively in the form of up-converting mixers and power detectors, which are just switched on during the calibration phase. Furthermore its scalable nature would allow cascading multiple chips for massive MIMO chains, which the internal 20 GHz VCO of only master chip is functional. Thus the radar angular resolution could be boosted. The successful measurement results indicate that the proposed MIMO transceiver is well suited for 60 GHz radar applications.