A 22–44-GHz Phased-Array Receive Beamformer in 45-nm CMOS SOI for 5G Applications With 3–3.6-dB NF

This article presents a 22-44-GHz phased-array receive beamformer in the GlobalFoundries (GF) 45-nm CMOS SOI. The channel includes a wideband single-ended to differential low-noise amplifier (LNA), a 5-bit vector modulator (VM) phase shifter with a measured rms error of <; 6°, an attenuator, and a variable gain amplifier (VGA) with 16 dB of gain control. The phased-array channel results in a peak gain of 26.3 dB and a 3-dB bandwidth of 20.5-44 GHz. The measured NF is 3-3.6 dB at 22-44 GHz with an IP1dB of -27.5 to -24.5 dBm and dc power consumption of 112 mW. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first wideband phased-array beamformer that covers the entire millimeter-wave 5G band with high linearity and should be suitable for next-generation 5G systems.