Wide-IF-Band 90-nm CMOS Image-Rejection Subharmonic Radio-Astronomical Array Receiver Design in 75-110 GHz

This article reports our latest progress in the design of a broadband 90-nm CMOS image-rejection subharmonic receiver where its RF covers 75-110 GHz, local oscillator (LO) is 37.5-55 GHz, and the IF is set to be at 4-12 GHz. The chip size is 1500 × 800 μm2, and it consumes 550 mW under 2.2-V bias. With both wideband RF and IF quadrature hybrids incorporated into the receiver circuit, a good image-rejection ratio (≥ 15 dB) has been recorded on the IFUSB port, while a modest image-rejection ratio (~10dB) was measured on the IFLSB port. Therefore, it is very promising for this type of silicon-based receivers at W-band to be adopted in radio-astronomical wideband imaging arrays where compact receiver modules are always expected. To our best knowledge, this is the first millimeter-wave CMOS receiver with a fully integrated image-rejection function to be demonstrated over wide RF, LO, and IF bandwidth for radio-astronomical purpose.