60GHz quadrature signal generation with a single phase VCO and polyphase filter in a 0.25μm SiGe BiCMOS technology

This paper describes a single-phase VCO followed by a polyphase filter to generate 60 GHz quadrature signals. The IC is implemented in a SiGe:C-BiCMOS process. A quadrature down-conversion mixer is included for accurate evaluation of I/Q-matching. The RF inputs of the mixers are driven via an on-chip passive power splitter. The VCO exhibits a tuning range between 59.5-61.5 GHz and a phase noise of -92 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz offset from the carrier. The measured I/Q-matching of 28.6 dB corresponds to a phase error of 4.2deg. The power consumption of the IC including the mixers is 150 mW at a supply voltage of 4.5 V and the chip area including bondpads is 1 mm².