60-GHz CMOS artificial magnetic conductor on-chip 2×2 monopole - antenna phased array RF receiving system with integrated variable-gain low-noise amplifier and phase shifter

This paper presents a 60-GHz CMOS artificial magnetic conductor (AMC) on-chip 2×2 monopole - antenna phased array RF receiving system with integrated variable-gain low-noise amplifier (VGLNA) and 360° phase shifter ( PS ). With the AMC structure, the radiation efficiency and power gain of the antenna increases from 6% to 15% and from -9 to -5 dBi at 60 GHz, respectively. In VG-LNA design, variable gain is achieved by a current-steering structure and low phase variation is achieved by a body-floating technique. The proposed 360° phase shifter is implemented by cascading a 180° reflection-type and a 180° switch-type phase shifters. The measurement results show that a phase control range of 360° with a gain variation of 3.7 dB can be achieved. In terms of gain controlling capability, a 11.3-dB gain control range with a 13.5° phase variation is obtained. On-wafer beam steering measurement shows that the main beam can scan to ±25°. The total power consumption is 75 mW from a 1.5 V power supply. The chip size is 3.1 × 3.8 mm².