122 GHz ISM-band transceiver concept and silicon ICs for low-cost receiver in SiGe BiCMOS

A subharmonic transceiver for sensing and imaging applications in the 122 GHz ISM band has been proposed. The receiver consists of a single-ended LNA, a push-push VCO with 1/32 divider, a polyphase filter, and a subharmonic mixer. The receiver is fabricated in SiGe:C BiCMOS technology with fT/fmax of 255GHz/315GHz. Its differential down-conversion gain is 31 dB at 122 GHz, and the corresponding noise figure is 11 dB. The 3-dB bandwidth reaches from 121 GHz to 124 GHz. The input 1-dB compression point is at −44 dBm. The receiver consumes 113 mA at a supply voltage of 3.2 V.