A new millimeter wave phase shifter for phased arrays.

Abstract

Phase shifters are considered crucial functional blocks in electronically scanned arrays, governing their beam steering capabilities. They are used to adjust the phase of each antenna element in the array and electronically steer the main lobe of its radiation pattern in the desired direction. Featuring components’ compactness and large available bandwidth, the mm-wave frequency band, particularly the unlicensed 57-64 GHz ISM band, is an attractive band for the design of phase shifters for phased array systems, which are implemented using low cost silicon-based processes. The aim of this thesis is to present the design of a new millimeter wave phase shifter for phased arrays, which is envisioned to be employed in high-resolution sensing applications. A reflective-type phase shifter is chosen and designed to operate at 60 GHz due to its simple design and controlling scheme. The design is implemented in the 90nm industrial CMOS technology using Cadence Virtuoso platform and Ansys HFSS 3-D layout. It involves a new topology for a fourth order asymmetric reflective load which is composed of two AMOS-based varactors and two inductors. Overall, the reflective type phase shifter is capable of achieving a maximum phase range of 254⁰ with a low insertion loss, resulting in a high figure of merit of around 22⁰-dB. It is also characterized by high linearity and a low DC power consumption of approximately 25 μW.