A V-band Four-Channel Phased Array Transmitter Beamforming IC With 0.7-Degree Phase Step in 20 dB Dynamic Range

This paper presents a V-band 4-channel transmitter beamforming IC fabricated in 28-nm CMOS process, which includes power amplifiers (PA), active vector modulators, and power dividers. The PA is linearized by a cold-FET controlled coupled inductor, improving the AM-AM and AM-PM. The vector modulator consists of a summing amplifier that combines I and Q vectors to determine the amplitude and phase of a synthesized signal, along with an active I/Q generator. The nonlinearity of the vector summing amplifier is overcome by introducing a CLC network of a 45 degrees phase shifter. It shows the 0.1 dB RMS gain and 2. RMS phase error at 60 GHz, with 3-bit gain and 9-bit phase control. An OP1dB of 10.8 dBm and a peak gain of 14.3 dB are achieved in the 3-dB frequency bandwidth of 57 GHz to 63.3 GHz. The chip area is 4.4 mm(2), and the power consumption is 295 mW.