Millimeter-Wave Multi-Port Front-End Receivers: Design Considerations and Implementation

This chapter covers recent achievements on the integrated 60 GHz millimeter-wave front-end receiver based on the multi-port (six-port) concept. For this purpose, the design procedure of a fully integrated 60 GHz multi-port (six-port) front-end receiver implemented on a thin ceramic substrate (εr = 9.9, h = 127 μm) using an miniature hybrid microwave integrated circuit (MHMIC) fabrication process is presented in detail. All components constituting the proposed front-end receiver including an 8 × 2 antenna array, a low-noise amplifier (LNA), a six-port circuit, and the RF power detectors are presented and characterized separately before they are integrated into the final front-end receiver prototype. The performance of the latter has been experimentally evaluated in terms of various M-PSK/M-QAM demodulations. The obtained demodulation results are very satisfactory (the constellation points for all considered M-PSK/M-QAM schemes are very close to the ideal locations), demonstrating and confirming the high ability of the proposed 60 GHz millimeter-wave six-port front-end receiver to operate as a high-performance quadrature demodulator, without any calibration, for modulation schemes up to 32 symbols

Millimeter Wave Multi-Port Interferometric Radar Sensors: Evolution of Fabrication and Characterization Technologies

Recent advances in millimeter wave technologies, both in component and system design, in line with important size and cost reductions, have opened up new applications in ultra-high-speed wireless communications, radar and imaging sensors. The paper presents the evolution of millimeter wave circuit and modules fabrication and characterization technologies in the past decades. Novel planar low-cost fabrication technologies have been successfully developed in this period. In combination with the standard rectangular wave-guide technology, these offer great opportunities for prototyping and testing of future millimeter wave transceivers or front-ends, which integrate antenna arrays, down-converters, modulators, amplifiers, etc., in a compact fixture. The paper uses, as a suggestive example, the evolution of the multi-port interferometric front-ends implementation from millimeter wave bulky components and systems to miniaturized and high-efficient ones. Circuit and system designs are carefully done to avoid (as much as possible) complicated calibration methods or difficult post-processing of baseband data. This requires an increased effort in design and fabrication, but it allows miniaturization, low-power consumption, while keeping very good overall performances. Useful and straightforward laboratory characterization techniques of circuits and systems are described in detail

Nouveau récepteur six-port en ondes millimétriques

La jonction six-port -- La jonction six-port modifiée, réalisée en technologie MhMIC -- La jonction six-port modifiée en technologie MMIC-première version -- La jonction six-port modifiée en technologie MMIC-deuxième version -- Le décodeur I Q -- Simulations et mesures du récepteurs six-port -- La boucle de récupération de la porteuse -- L'influence de la propagation par trajets multiples et de l'effet doppler sur le recepteur six-port

MHMIC Six-port Interferometer for W-band Transceivers: Design and Characterization

The study has presented an extensive analysis of an integrated millimeter wave six-port interferometer, operating over a 10 GHz band, from 80 to 90 GHz. It has covered both semi-unlicensed point-to-point links (81-86 GHz), and imaging sensor system frequencies (above 85 GHz). An in-house process is used to fabricate miniaturized hybrid millimeter wave integrated circuits on a very thin ceramic substrate. Two-port S-parameter measurements are performed on a minimum number of circuits integrated on the same die, exploiting the circuit’s physical symmetry and chosen to collect enough data for full-port characterization. Based on these measurements on an integrated prototype, a six-port circuit computer model implemented and advanced system simulations performed for circuit analysis. Interferometer performances evaluated using several methods: analysis of harmonic balance, qi points’, homodyne quadrature demodulation, and error vector modulation (EVM). The analysis showed that this circuit can directly perform, without any calibration, the demodulation of various PSK and QAM signals over the 10 GHz band, with very good results

Tolerance Considerations for MHMIC Manufacturing Process at Millimeter-Wave Band

This paper investigates the manufacturing uncertainties at a 60 GHz millimeter-wave band for the monolithic hybrid microwave integrated circuits (MHMIC) fabrication process. It specifically deals with the implementation tolerances of thin-film gold microstrip transmission lines, titanium oxide thin-layer resistors, microstrip quarter-wavelength radial stubs, and active device implementation using the gold-bonding ribbons. The impacts of these manufacturing tolerances are assessed and experimentally quantified through prototyped MHMIC circuits. This allows us, on one hand, to identify the acceptable amount of dimensional variation enabling reasonable performances. On the other hand, it aims to establish a relationship between the manufacturing tolerances and the circuit parameters to provide more flexibility for the tolerance compensation and accuracy enhancement of the MHMIC fabrication processes