A wide-band 65nm CMOS 28–34 GHz synthesizer module enabling low power heterodyne spectrometers for planetary exploration

Author

Chen, Z.-Z. ; Tang, A. ; Kim, Y. ; Virbila, G. ; Reck, T. ; Yei, J.-F. ; Du, Y. ; Chattopadhyay, G. ; Chang, M.-C Frank

Author_Institution

Univ. of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA

fYear

2015

fDate

17-22 May 2015

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

3

Abstract

This paper presents a wide-band 28-34 GHz frequency synthesizer module developed to support THz spectrometer instruments for planetary exploration. The presented module features low power operation and a small form factor to be compatible with the demanding payload requirements of NASA planetary missions. The core of the module is a CMOS System-on-Chip (SoC) containing a sub-sampled phase-detector (SSPD) based phase lock-loop, power amplifier, power sensor and digital calibration. The demonstrated module draws a total of 81.2 mW of power from a USB connection and provides coverage from 28-34 GHz with output powers better than -4.0 dBm across the entire band. The offered mid-band phase noise is measured at -96.6 dBc/Hz evaluated at 1 MHz offset from the carrier.

Keywords

CMOS integrated circuits; astronomical instruments; frequency synthesizers; microwave integrated circuits; microwave spectrometers; noise measurement; peripheral interfaces; phase detectors; phase locked loops; phase noise; power amplifiers; radioastronomical techniques; sensors; system-on-chip; terahertz spectroscopy; CMOS system-on-chip; NASA planetary missions; SSPD; SoC; THz spectrometer instruments; USB connection; digital calibration; frequency 28 GHz to 34 GHz; low power heterodyne spectrometers; midband phase noise; phase lock-loop; planetary exploration; power 81.2 mW; power amplifier; power sensor; size 65 nm; subsampled phase-detector; wide-band CMOS synthesizer module; wide-band frequency synthesizer module; Assembly; CMOS integrated circuits; CMOS technology; Monitoring; Synthesizers; System-on-chip; Universal Serial Bus; PISSARRO PLL; Phase-Lock Loop; SSPD; Sub-sampled;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Microwave Symposium (IMS), 2015 IEEE MTT-S International

Conference_Location

Phoenix, AZ

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/MWSYM.2015.7166709

Filename

7166709