X/Ku-band 8-element phased arrays based on single silicon chips

This paper presents a complete 8-element X/Ku-band phased array based on a single silicon chip. The phased array is integrated together with the antennas and digital control circuitry on a single Teflon board. The chip-on-board package, together with 8 X/Ku-band RF inputs and one RF output in a 2.2×2.5mm2 area, and the appropriate grounding and Vcc connections, are modeled using a 3-D EM solver. The design results in a low coupling between the different RF ports, and ensures stability even with a channel gain of 20 dB at 12 GHz. The measured patterns show a near-ideal performance up to a scan angle of 60° with an instantaneous bandwidth of 11.4–12.6 GHz (limited by non true-time delay connections between the antennas and the silicon chip). Temperature tests indicate that the silicon chip maintains excellent phase stability and rms phase error up to 100°C. To our knowledge, this represents the first system-level measurements on silicon-chip phased arrays.