New miniature 15-20-GHz continuous-phase/amplitude control MMICs using 0.18-μm CMOS technology

The design and performance of two new miniature 360° continuous-phase-control monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs) using the vector sum method are presented. Both are implemented using commercial 0.18-μm CMOS process. The first phase shifter demonstrates all continuous phase and an insertion loss of 8 dB with a 37-dB dynamic range from 15 to 20 GHz. The chip size is 0.95 mm × 0.76 mm. The second phase shifter can achieve all continuous phase and an insertion loss of 16.2 dB with a 38.8-dB dynamic range at the same frequency range. The chip size is 0.71 mm × 0.82 mm. To the best of the authors´ knowledge, these circuits are the first demonstration of microwave CMOS phase shifters using the vector sum method with the smallest chip size for all MMIC phase shifters with 360° phase-control range above 5 GHz reported to date.