X/Ku-Band SiGe BiCMOS Phased Array Chips with Simultaneous 2- and 4-Beam Capabilities

This paper presents RFIC phased array receive chips capable of formation 2- and 4- simultaneous beams from the same antenna input with 4-bit amplitude and phase control. The design is based on a SiGe BiCMOS process (Jazz SiGe18Hx) and results in excellent isolation between the different beams. The 2-beam chip results in a gain of 5-6 dB per channel at 14-15 GHz, a noise figure of 10.0 dB, a P1dB of -13 dBm per channel (IIP3 of-6 dBm), and an RMS phase and gain error of < 12deg and 1.5 dB, respectively. A gain control of 17 dB is available at each channel. Most important, the on-chip isolation between the channels has been fully characterized and is > 30 dB at 11-15 GHz. The beams can operate over an instantaneous bandwidth of > 1 GHz at any frequency between 11 and 15 GHz, and both beams can be at the same frequency if required. The 4-beam chip is currently being tested and the results will be reported at the conference.