A fully integrated W-band pulse compression radar CMOS transceiver

Abstract

A fully integrated ultra-wideband (UWB) W-band pulse compression radar transceiver in a 65-nm CMOS technology is presented. The transceiver adopts a pulse compression scheme for high power spectral density with low TX leakage. Two identical voltage controlled oscillators, which are coupled through the second harmonic, are designed to achieve high output power and low phase noise without buffers. A transformer-based local oscillator distribution network is proposed to achieve both small chip area and high port-to-port isolation. The transceiver chip produces 7.5-GHz UWB RF pulses with 14.5-dBm peak output power in the tuning range of 75-81 GHz, while the receiver shows a dynamic range of above 60 dB. The radar module was realized with waveguide transitions from a micro-strip to a WR-10 waveguide, and was capable of differentiating two targets with 6.5-cm separation within 30 m distance.