Frequency-Reconfigurable Phase Shifter Based on a 65-nm CMOS Process for 5G Applications

In this brief, a frequency-reconfigurable phase shifter (PS) with a substrate-shield-based inductor for 5G applications is presented. This PS can switch its operating bands between 26.5-29.5 GHz and 37-40 GHz by a single control voltage. Because of the switch-type topology, this PS has the benefit of zero power consumption. To verify the utility of this circuit, a 5-bit frequency-reconfigurable PS was designed and fabricated with a 65-nm CMOS process, where 4 bits out of the 5-bit PS employ the proposed frequency-reconfigurable PS. The 5-bit PS has the root mean square (RMS) phase error of 3.7°-12.2° and the RMS amplitude error of 0.4-0.96 dB in 26.5-29.5 GHz. After the control voltage was changed, The PS also had an RMS phase error of 1.6°-8° and an RMS amplitude error of 0.43-0.64 dB in another band (37-40 GHz). According to the aforementioned results, the proposed frequency-reconfigurable PS can support the frequency bands of n257 and n260, which were released by 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). Hence, the proposed PS is an effective solution for 5G millimeter wave applications.