Packaged K-/Ka-Band Down/Up Frequency Converter Chipsets for Phased Array SATCOM Ground Terminals in 65-nm CMOS

Large-scale integrated phased arrays are enabling the millimeter-wave (mm-Wave) satellite communications (SATCOMs). Dedicated to the SATCOM planar phased array systems, the design of the K-/Ka-band down/up frequency converter (FC) chipsets is detailed in this article. The quadrature Gilbert FCs benefit from the proposed differentiated IF and LO high-order in-phase and quadrature (IQ) balancing techniques, supporting fully on-chip high-image/sideband rejection ratio (IRR/SRR). The wideband IF signal processing chains, simultaneously enabling gain control, reconfigurable filtering, Hilbert transformation, voltage/power amplifying, as well as single-ended/differential signal conversions, are proposed for the heterodyne up and down FCs, contributing to versatile and ready-to-use IF interfaces for various SATCOM modems in L and S bands. Power amplifying and buffering stages accompanied by gain control blocks are integrated to enhance the driving capability and dynamic range. In addition, the harmonic rejection quadrupler chain is adopted to relieve the high-frequency low-noise requirements on external LO sources and allow low-loss on-board routes. Fabricated in 65-nm CMOS technology and packaged with the wafer-level chip-scale packaging (WLCSP), the FC chipsets fully support the 2-D operation in the RF band of 17.7–21.2 GHz downlink receiver (RX)/27.5–31.0 GHz uplink transmitter (TX) and the wide-IF band of 0.8–4 GHz, offering the peak conversion gain of 35.7/33 dB for the RX/TX, with over 40-dBc IRR/SRR and 58-dBc calibrated LO suppression.