A Silicon-Germanium Receiver for X-Band Transmit/Receive Radar Modules

Author

Comeau, Jonathan P. ; Morton, Matthew A. ; Kuo, Wei-Min Lance ; Thrivikraman, Tushar ; Andrews, Joel M. ; Grens, C.M. ; Cressler, John D. ; Papapolymerou, John ; Mitchell, Mark

Author_Institution

Tyco Electron., Lowell, MA

Volume

43

Issue

9

fYear

2008

Firstpage

1889

Lastpage

1896

Abstract

This work investigates the potential of commercially-available silicon-germanium (SiGe) BiCMOS technology for X-band transmit/receive (T/R) radar modules, focusing on the receiver section of the module. A 5-bit receiver operating from 8 to 10.7 GHz is presented, demonstrating a gain of 11 dB, and average noise figure of 4.1 dB, and an input-referred third-order intercept point (HP3) of -13 dBm, while only dissipating 33 mW of power. The receiver is capable of providing 32 distinct phase states from 0 to 360deg, with an rms phase error < 9deg and an rms gain error < 0.6 dB. This level of circuit performance and integration capability demonstrates the benefits of SiGe BiCMOS technology for emerging radar applications, making it an excellent candidate for integrated X-band phased-array radar transmit/receive modules.

Keywords

BiCMOS integrated circuits; Ge-Si alloys; MMIC; microwave receivers; phased array radar; radar receivers; radar transmitters; BiCMOS technology; SiGe; X-band transmit/receive radar modules; circuit integration capability; frequency 8 GHz to 10.7 GHz; gain 11 dB; input-referred third-order intercept point; noise figure 4.1 dB; phased-array radar; power 33 mW; silicon-germanium receiver; BiCMOS integrated circuits; Costs; Gain; Germanium silicon alloys; Heterojunction bipolar transistors; Noise figure; Radar antennas; Radar applications; Radar tracking; Silicon germanium; Phased array; SiGe; T/R module; radar; receiver; silicon-germanium; transmit/receive module;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Solid-State Circuits, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9200

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JSSC.2008.2002335

Filename

4625988