A 1.5 V 28 GHz beam steering SiGe PLL for an 81-86 GHz E-band transmitter

This letter presents measurement results for a low supply voltage 28 GHz beam steering PLL, designed in a SiGe bipolar process with fT=200 GHz. The PLL, designed around a QVCO, is intended for a beam steering 81-86 GHz E-band transmitter. Linear phase control is implemented by variable current injection into a Gilbert type phase detector, with a measured nominal phase control sensitivity of 2.5 °/ μA . The demonstrated LO generation method offers great advantages in the implementation of beam steering mm-wave transmitters, since only the low frequency PLL reference signal of 1.75 GHz needs to be routed across the chip to the different transmitters. Except for an active loop filter, used to extend the locking range of the PLL, the design uses a low supply voltage of 1.5 V. The PLL obtains a measured in band phase noise of −107 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz offset. The power consumption equals 54 mW from the 1.5 V supply plus 1.8 mW for the variable supply of the active low pass filter.