Gabriel M. Rebeiz

This article presents a 6.3–18.4GHz in-phase and quadrature (I/Q) direct down-conversion receiver featuring reconfigurability in both the radio frequency (RF) and local oscillator (LO) paths. The receiver comprises a multi-band reconfigurable RF front-end, double-balanced passive I/Q mixers, an I/Q LO generation network with a tunable I/Q vector correction circuit, and wideband baseband amplifiers. The integrated reconfigurable RF front end enables optimized performance across different bands. The LO drivers and the polyphase filter (PPF) are co-designed to maximize the overall LO chain voltage gain with low power consumption. Also, the tunable LO I/Q vector correction circuit is implemented at the LO output drivers to minimize I/Q phase error over a wide frequency range while introducing minimal additional voltage loss. Fabricated in 22-nm CMOS fully depleted silicon-on-insulator (FD-SOI) technology, the receiver achieves a measured 3-dB conversion gain (CG) of 20dB at 6.3–18.4GHz, a noise figure (NF) of 2.4–5.3dB, an image-rejection ratio (IRR) exceeding 40dB, and an input 1-dB compression point (IP1dB) greater than –26dBm, with an average power consumption of 79 mW. The receiver targets high-data-rate 6G frequency range 3 (FR3) wireless communication applications.

This article presents a 6.5–20-GHz reconfigurable phased-array receive (RX) beamformer channel in the GlobalFoundries (GF) 22-nm FD-SOI, consisting of a low-noise amplifier (LNA), a 5-bit phase shifter (PS), and a 5-bit variable gain amplifier (VGA). The reconfigurable channel has three different band configurations, utilizing amplifiers with various switchable networks and a switchable quadrature all-pass filter (QAF) for I/Q generation. The channel results in a measured gain of 19–24 dB, with 3-dB bandwidths (BW) of 6.5–9.5 GHz, 9.5–14.5 GHz, and 14–20 GHz for three different bands. A measured noise figure (NF) of 3.4–4.8 dB and an input 1-dB compression point (IP1dB) of −25 to −23 dBm are achieved for 6.5–20 GHz, with a gain tuning range of 17.5–18.5 dB and a DC power consumption of 75 mW. The measured rms phase and gain errors are, respectively, <3° and <0.5 dB at 6.5–18 GHz, and <5° and <0.8 dB at 6.5–20 GHz. This reconfigurable beamformer demonstrates performance comparable to state-of-the-art wideband beamformers, suitable for 6G FR3 applications.

This article presents a high-linearity eight-channel phased-array receiver operating at 3–28 GHz, designed for multiband base station applications using a 90-nm SiGe BiCMOS process. The chip employs RF beamforming and integrates eight channels with dual 4:1 combiner networks for dual-polarized, dual-beam operation. Each channel includes a switchable low-noise amplifier (LNA), an active phase shifter (PS) with a vector modulator (VM), and a variable gain amplifier (VGA), all optimized for high-linearity performance to mitigate interference. The input features a differential port to support ultrawideband antenna designs, while the output is converted to a single-ended port to simplify printed circuit board (PCB) routing. Measurements show an electronic gain of 25–34 dB, a noise figure (NF) of 2–4.5 dB, an input 1 dB compression point ( ${IP} _{1{dB}}$ ) of −35 to −28 dBm, and a power consumption of 150 mW across the operating bandwidth. The design targets 6G base station applications, with gain peaking at higher frequencies to compensate for PCB routing loss. For demonstration, a 16-element linear array with Vivaldi antennas is developed to showcase system-level performance. Over-the-air (OTA) testing shows ±50° beam scanning capability while maintaining high linearity with 64-QAM-modulated signals. These results highlight the potential of the proposed receiver for future multiband 6G FR3 systems.

This article presents a 124–161-GHz radio frequency (RF) front end beamformer channel implemented in GlobalFoundries 45RFSOI technology. A key element in the beamformer is a 5-bit phase shifter with very low root mean square (rms) phase error and rms gain error. The phase shifter employs a Lange coupler for IQ signal generation and a dual current-steering (DCS) variable gain amplifier (VGA) for controlling the in-phase (I) and quadrature (Q) gains. Measurements show a minimum rms phase error of 0.4° and <5.6° at 124–161 GHz and with an rms gain error of 0.5 dB. The beamformer achieves a maximum data rate of 48 Gb/s with 16 QAM and 64 QAM modulations and an error-vector magnitude (EVM) of 10.7% and 6.1%, respectively, at 142.5 GHz. To the authors’ knowledge, this work achieves the lowest rms phase and gain errors across a wide frequency range among other D-band designs.

In this paper, a novel wideband, circular polarized, broadside passive array antenna (PAA) with a single feeding network is proposed covering X/Ku-band satellite communication (SATCOM) frequency bands. The radiating element includes a stacked microstrip patch configuration and has a ∼42% impedance bandwidth that covers both the downlink (10.7-12.7 GHz) and uplink (14-14.5 GHz) bands. An air gap was introduced between the driven and the parasitic patch layers, along with stubs on both the patches for wide bandwidth (BW) operation. The 4×4 fixed beam array is formed using a sequential rotation (SR) technique that enables a wide axial ratio (AR) bandwidth. The gain is fairly stable across the operating bandwidth with a peak simulated gain of 11.8 dBic at 11.7 GHz. The gain variation is 2.9 dB at 10.7-14.5 GHz. Moreover, a 3-dB AR bandwidth of ∼43.7% is achieved. A prototype array antenna demonstrates good agreement between simulated and measured performances. The proposed single circularly polarized (CP) arrays feature a planar structure, a wide operational bandwidth, and high polarization purity. These attributes make the antenna an excellent candidate for LEO (low earth orbit) satellite communications.