A 108–114 GHz 4 $,\times,$ 4 Wafer-Scale Phased Array Transmitter With High-Efficiency On-Chip Antennas

This paper presents a W-band wafer-scale phased- array transmitter with high-efficiency on-chip antennas. The 4 × 4 array is based on an RF beamforming architecture with an equiphase distribution network and phased shifters placed on every element. The differential on-chip antennas are implemented using a 100 μm thick quartz superstrate and with a simulated efficiency of ~ 45% at 110 GHz. The phased array is designed with low mutual coupling between the elements and results in a stable active antenna impedance versus scan angle. The phased array is built in the Jazz SBC18H3 SiGe BiCMOS process, and is 6.5 × 6.0 mm². Measurements show two-dimensional pattern scanning capabilities with a directivity of 17.0 dB, an array gain of ~26.5 dB at 110 GHz, and an EIRP of 23-25 dBm at 108-114 GHz. The power consumption is 3.4 W from a 1.9 V supply. To our knowledge, this work represents the first W-band wafer-scale phased array to-date. The application areas are in point-to-point communication systems in the 100-120 GHz range.