Low complexity, low power, 10 GHz super-regenerative transceiver

In this paper a 10 GHz quasi-Hybrid/MMIC super-regenerative transceiver/antenna chip is presented. The circuit is the highest frequency super-regenerative transceiver presented in the literature and is amongst the lowest power - certainly the lowest power at X-band frequency. The chip is fabricated on GaAs substrate and uses a MMIC process for the passive components and an RFMD PHEMT chip device bonded into the circuit for the active components. The transceiver chip measures 10 × 10 mm and consumes 0.75 mW Tx and 0.9 mW Rx. When mounted into a pcb carrier substrate containing antenna, bias circuitry and low pass filtering the board measures 26 × 42 mm and operates over a range of 1 m.