Passive signal combiner ICs on silicon substrate for RF-MIMO applications

Author

Wickert, Michael ; Ellinger, Frank

Author_Institution

Circuit Design & Network Theor., Dresden Univ. of Technol., Dresden, Germany

fYear

2011

fDate

27-28 Sept. 2011

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

4

Abstract

This paper analyses several passive signal combiner concepts suited for RF MIMO schemes. After reviewing the requirements and theory of RF combiners in mobile applications the Wilkinson combiner is presented in several differential topologies suitable for integration into analogue frontends. A de-embedded gain of -7.6 dB @5.5 GHz per path is measured for a 4-to-1 passive combiner integrated in 0.25 μm BiCMOS. By careful inductor design the required area could be reduced by more than 50% with similar or even better performance. A simple bond-wire combiner is shown for comparison.

Keywords

BiCMOS integrated circuits; MIMO communication; passive networks; radiofrequency integrated circuits; BiCMOS; RF combiner; RF-MIMO application; Wilkinson combiner; analogue frontends; bond-wire combiner; frequency 5.5 GHz; gain -7.6 dB; mobile application; passive signal combiner IC; silicon substrate; size 0.25 mum; Inductors; Microwave FET integrated circuits; Microwave integrated circuits; Microwave theory and techniques; Power dividers; Propagation losses; Transmission line measurements; RF-MIMO; Wilkinson; combiner; passive;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Semiconductor Conference Dresden (SCD), 2011

Conference_Location

Dresden

Print_ISBN

978-1-4577-0431-4

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/SCD.2011.6068726

Filename

6068726