Highly Linear Ku-Band SiGe PIN Diode Phase Shifter in Standard SiGe BiCMOS Process

This letter presents a fully integrated highly linear 4-bit SiGe PIN diode phase shifter MMIC for
Ku
-band phase-array application in the standard SiGe BiCMOS process. High-performance customized SiGe PIN diode switches are employed for high linearity and low insertion loss. The use of differential inductors in the hybrid switched filters makes this phase shifter compact in size. Measurements show 20 dB ±5 dB input/output return loss, less than ± 1.8° phase variation, and maximum 37 dBm input-referred IP3 over the 14.5-15.5 GHz frequency range, while this phase shifter draws an average current of 3.5 mA from a 3.3 V power supply. To the authors' best knowledge, this 4-bit phase shifter MMIC achieves the highest linearity at
Ku
-band in the standard SiGe BiCMOS process without utilizing any post-fabrication process for low loss transmission lines.