60-GHz dual-conversion down-/up- converters using Schottky diode in 0.18 μm CMOS process: An alternative approach for millimeter-wave transceiver

An alternative approach for 60 GHz transceiver is proposed in this invited paper. The proposed 60 GHz transceiver has GaAs LNA/PA at the front end and the rest of the transceiver is realized in a low-cost foundry CMOS technology with the help of Schottky diode. The 60 GHz transceiver by 65-nm CMOS technology did not show adequate performance and suffers from high R&D cost because of the expensive photo masks while a transceiver based on the GaAs technology is plagued with the high manufacturing cost even though the noise figure of LNA and PAE of PA are good. The recent demonstrated down-/up- converters using Schottky diode in 0.18 μm CMOS process by our group sheds light on this alternative approach for millimeter-wave transceivers.