Silicon Photonic Radar Transmitter IC for mm-Wave Large Aperture MIMO Radar Using Optical Clock Distribution

An optoelectronic mm-wave radar transmitter (TX) IC for MIMO imaging radar in silicon photonics technology is presented. The MIMO radar system architecture in which the ICs shall be used features an optical local oscillator (LO) distributed over fiber to coherently operate mm-wave transceiver frontends. Optical LO distribution enables larger apertures and hence higher angular resolution for MIMO imaging radars. The optoelectronic TX frontend IC integrates all electronic and photonic components needed to receive the optical LO signal and to generate a transmit signal at mm-Wave. It operates on both 1310nm and 1550nm LO wavelength. The chip was designed in a pre-production photonic SiGe BiCMOS technology from IHP. Measured output power is 13dBm at 67GHz and 5dBm at 77GHz from -5dBm optical modulation amplitude (OMA). The IC dissipates 900mW from a single 3.6V supply voltage.