A 60 GHz integrated sub-harmonic receiver MMIC

We present a 60 GHz integrated sub-harmonic receiver fabricated using the TRW 0.15 /spl mu/m gate length GaAs pHEMT foundry process. The receiver MMIC consists of a four stage LNA, a sub-harmonic diode mixer and a single stage LO buffer amplifier. The chip size is 5.8 mm/spl times/2.2 mm. The receiver MMIC has been integrated into a coaxial package for system evaluation. The packaged receiver module has a measured conversion gain of /spl ges/8 dB across the 58 GHz to 67 GHz frequency band and a typical noise figure of 5.8 dB. The use of a sub-harmonic mixer allows LO operation over the 21 to 27 GHz frequency range at a low LO drive level of -5 dBm and eliminates the need for high cost mm-wave sources. This is believed to be the first single chip V-band receiver manufactured using a commercially available, high yield, production foundry process. This paper describes the design, packaging and measured performance of the integrated sub-harmonic receiver MMIC.