A Millimeter-Wave, Transformer-Based, SiGe Distributed Attenuator

This letter presents a millimeter-wave silicon-germanium (SiGe) distributed attenuator which uses a transformer-based attenuation core. The nonlinearities of the SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) are managed using an RC -load, which linearizes the device impedance versus bias. In addition...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inIEEE microwave and wireless components letters Vol. 32; no. 2; pp. 145 - 148
Main Authors Rao, Sunil G., Cheon, Clifford D., Cressler, John D.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published IEEE 01.02.2022
Subjects
Attenuation
Attenuators
HBT
heterojunction bipolar transistors
Impedance
Insertion loss
millimeter-wave integrated circuits
Silicon germanium
silicon-germanium (SiGe)
Transformer cores
Transformers
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Summary:This letter presents a millimeter-wave silicon-germanium (SiGe) distributed attenuator which uses a transformer-based attenuation core. The nonlinearities of the SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) are managed using an RC -load, which linearizes the device impedance versus bias. In addition, a dual-resonance transformer is used to support broadband operation, while providing control over the attenuator insertion phase. Two attenuators, one using transmission line-based impedance transformers, and one using transformer-based impedance transformers, were designed and fabricated in a 180-nm SiGe bipolar and CMOS (BiCMOS) technology platform. The attenuators achieve competitive performance in terms of bandwidth and phase error, but with low insertion loss and large attenuation range.
ISSN:1531-1309
1558-1764
DOI:10.1109/LMWC.2021.3118291