A 16-element phased-array receiver IC for 60-GHz communications in SiGe BiCMOS

A 0.12-μm SiGe phased-array Rx IC for beam-steered wireless communication in the 60-GHz band is described. It has 16 RF phase-shifting front-ends with 11° digital phase resolution and hybrid passive-active RF signal combining. It achieves 7.4-7.9 dB NF (not including 12-dB array gain) over the 4 IEEE channels. The IC has a double-conversion superheterodyne Rx core with a maximum of 72 dB of power gain in 1-dB steps, and the on-chip synthesizer achieves <; -90 dBc/Hz Rx phase noise at 1MHz offset. The IC draws 1.8 W at 2.7 V with a die area of 38 mm
²
. It has been packaged with 16 antennas in a 288-pin organic BGA and phased-array beamsteering has been demonstrated, along with 5+ Gb/s wireless links using 16-QAM OFDM.