A Ku-Band SiGe Phased-Array Transceiver with 6-Bit Phase and Attenuation Control

A Ku-band phased-array transceiver using 0.13- μm SiGe BiCMOS technology is proposed in this paper for satellite communication applications. With a 6-bit inductive compensated attenuator and a 6-bit phase shifter integrated in the common-leg of the receive (RX) and transmit (TX) paths, the transceiver realizes 6-bit phase and attenuation control of the RF signal. The transceiver realizes larger than 20 dB gain, with RMS gain/phase error less than 1 dB/10° within 16-18 GHz. The whole transceiver occupies 2.7 × 2.5 mm² chip area.

I. Introduction

In typical phased-array systems, large numbers of T/R modules still dominate the total cost. There is a technical trend to design low-cost phased-arrays using silicon technologies for mobile satellite communication and radar systems [1]–[4]. Although the power delivering and noise performance of silicon-based chips can’t outperform III-V semiconductors such as GaAs or InP, silicon-based phased-array chips benefit from much larger integration density and lower cost. SiGe BiCMOS technology is becoming especially popular as a compromise due to its both good RF performance and low cost.