Wide-IF-Band 90-nm CMOS Image-Rejection Subharmonic Radio-Astronomical Array Receiver Design in 75–110 GHz

This article reports our latest progress in the design of a broadband 90-nm CMOS image-rejection subharmonic receiver where its RF covers 75–110 GHz, local oscillator (LO) is 37.5–55 GHz, and the IF is set to be at 4–12 GHz. The chip size is
$1500 \times 800\ {\boldsymbol{\mu}}{\mathbf{m}}^2$
, and it consumes 550 mW under 2.2-V bias. With both wideband RF and IF quadrature hybrids incorporated into the receiver circuit, a good image-rejection ratio (
$ {\ge} 15\ \mathbf{dB}$
) has been recorded on the IF
_USB
port, while a modest image-rejection ratio (
${\sim} 10\ \mathbf{dB}$
) was measured on the IF
_LSB
port. Therefore, it is very promising for this type of silicon-based receivers at
W
-band to be adopted in radio-astronomical wideband imaging arrays where compact receiver modules are always expected. To our best knowledge, this is the first millimeter-wave CMOS receiver with a fully integrated image-rejection function to be demonstrated over wide RF, LO, and IF bandwidth for radio-astronomical purpose.