A 77 GHz T/R MMIC chip set for automotive radar systems

A 77-GHz MMIC chip set consisting of a low noise amplifier, a power amplifier, a down converter and a voltage controlled oscillator has been developed to constitute a T/R module for automotive radar systems. The low noise amplifier exhibited a gain of 9.5 dB/spl plusmn/1.0 dB over a 62-96.5 GHz band with an NF of 5.8 dB. The power amplifier achieved a small-signal gain of 13.5 dB/spl plusmn/2.5 dB from 70.7 GHz to 80.3 GHz with 9.7 dBm output power at the 1 dB gain compression. The down converter exhibited a conversion gain of 1.3 dB/spl plusmn/2.2 dB in a band between 75 GHz and 98 GHz with an NF of 7.5 dB. The 77-GHz voltage controlled oscillator exhibited an output power of 0.9 dBm/spl plusmn/0.9 dB over a tuning range of 75.5-76.6 GHz. A design philosophy has been adopted of achieving broadband performance in small MMIC chip size in order to improve manufacturability and performance/cost characteristics of the chip set. The total area for the chip set is 7.92 mm/sup 2/.