A single-chip 36-38 GHz 4-element transmit/receive phased-array with 5-bit amplitude and phase control

A 4-element 36-38 GHz SiGe BiCMOS phased array capable of both transmit and receive operation with 5-bit phase and amplitude control is presented. The design is based on an All-RF approach and results in very small chip area and low power consumption. The array results in a measured average gain of ~0 dB per channel, a noise figure of 8-9 dB, P1dB of -16 dBm, and output P1dB of +4 dBm over an instantaneous bandwidth of 2 GHz. The array consumes 171 and 142 mW in the Tx and Rx modes from 1.8 V, and occupies an area of 2.0 times 2.02 mm². To our knowledge, this is the smallest and lowest power consumption on-chip Ka-Band phased-array to-date.