A Reflection-Type Biphase Modulator with Balanced Loads

In this contribution a new balanced biphase modulator topology is presented. The new biphase modulator allows the reduction of the resulting chip area occupation by using 3 couplers only, in contrast with traditional reflection-type balanced biphase modulators with 4 couplers, and exhibiting comparable performances. A 45-65 GHz test vehicle adopting the proposed topology has been designed and realised in monolithic form in 70 nm mHEMT technology, resulting in a 1.8 times 1 mm² die size. The novel topology and the resulting measured performances of the test vehicle are described in the following.