Title :
A mm-Wave Segmented Power Mixer
Author :
Dasgupta, Kaushik ; Sengupta, Kaushik ; Pai, Alex ; Hajimiri, Ali
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Electr. Eng., California Inst. of Technol., Pasadena, CA, USA
Abstract :
The segmented power-mixer array based mm-wave power generation architecture is demonstrated to be an energy-efficient technique for generating high-speed nonconstant envelope modulations. High output power levels are achieved by efficiently combining power from several power mixers using an area efficient dual-primary distributed active transformer. The segmented scheme leads to back-off efficiency improvements while simultaneously providing direct envelope modulation eliminating the need for high-speed high-efficiency supply modulators. The power mixer is implemented in a 32-nm silicon-on-insulator CMOS process and provides a peak output power of 19.1 dBm at 51 GHz with a drain efficiency of 14.2% and a peak power-added efficiency of 10.1%. High-speed constant (binary phase-shift keying, quadrature phase-shift keying), as well as nonconstant envelope modulations ( m-amplitude shift keying, quadrature amplitude modulation) show the versatility of the architecture towards spectrally efficient modulation schemes. Reliability against segment breakdown over long periods of time at 30% higher supply voltages has also been demonstrated.
Keywords :
CMOS integrated circuits; field effect MIMIC; millimetre wave mixers; quadrature phase shift keying; silicon-on-insulator; -amplitude shift keying; Si; area efficient dual-primary distributed active transformer; back-off efficiency improvements; binary phase-shift keying; direct envelope modulation; drain efficiency; energy-efficient technique; frequency 51 GHz; high output power levels; high-speed nonconstant envelope modulations; mm-wave power generation architecture; nonconstant envelope modulations; peak output power; peak power-added efficiency; quadrature amplitude modulation; quadrature phase-shift keying; reliability; segment breakdown; segmented power-mixer array; segmented scheme; silicon-on-insulator CMOS process; size 32 nm; Frequency modulation; Mixers; Phase modulation; Power generation; System-on-chip; Transistors; CMOS; millimeter-wave (mm-wave); nonconstant envelope modulation; power mixer;
Journal_Title :
Microwave Theory and Techniques, IEEE Transactions on
DOI :
10.1109/TMTT.2015.2409094