Wide-IF-Band 90-nm CMOS Image-Rejection Subharmonic Radio-Astronomical Array Receiver Design in 75–110 GHz

This article reports our latest progress in the design of a broadband 90-nm CMOS image-rejection subharmonic receiver where its RF covers 75–110 GHz, local oscillator (LO) is 37.5–55 GHz, and the IF is set to be at 4–12 GHz. The chip size is $1500 \times 800\ {\boldsymbol{\mu}}{\mathbf{m}}^2$ , and it consumes 550 mW under 2.2-V bias. With both wideband RF and IF quadrature hybrids incorporated into the receiver circuit, a good image-rejection ratio ( $ {\ge} 15\ \mathbf{dB}$ ) has been recorded on the IF _USB port, while a modest image-rejection ratio ( ${\sim} 10\ \mathbf{dB}$ ) was measured on the IF _LSB port. Therefore, it is very promising for this type of silicon-based receivers at W -band to be adopted in radio-astronomical wideband imaging arrays where compact receiver modules are always expected. To our best knowledge, this is the first millimeter-wave CMOS receiver with a fully integrated image-rejection function to be demonstrated over wide RF, LO, and IF bandwidth for radio-astronomical purpose.