A Compact X-Band Bi-Directional Phased-Array T/R Chipset in 0.13 μm CMOS Technology

This paper presents an X-band bi-directional T/R chipset in 0.13μmCMOS. The T/R chipset consists of a bi-directional gain amplifier (BDGA), a 5-bit digital step attenuator with two BDGAs for compensating the switch losses, and a 6-bit phase shifter using DPDT switches. The phase and attenuation coverage is 360∘with the LSB of 5.625∘, and 31 dB with the LSB of 1 dB, respectively. The circuit has a reference state gain of> 3.5~db, and the return losses of> 11~dbat 8.5–10.5 GHz. The T/R chipset has a phase shift accuracy with the RMS phase error of< 4.3∘, while the RMS amplitude error is< 0.8~dbat 8.5–10.5 GHz. The attenuation accuracy is measured to be< 0.33~db, while the RMS phase error is< 7.4∘at 8.5–10.5 GHz. The output P1dB of the T/R chipset is> 6.5~dBmand the noise figure is< 7.5~dbat 8.5–10 GHz. The chip size is 2.06\,×\,0.58mm²including pads, and the DC power consumption is 154 mW only in the BDGAs. To authors' knowledge, this is the X-band CMOS T/R chipset with the competitive RF performance compared to other device technologies, which has the smallest size and the lowest power consumption to-date.