A Heterogeneous Transceiver in 0.1µm D-Mode GaAs and 65nm CMOS for SATCOM Phased Arrays

A 4×2 phased array using a 0.1 µm GaAs pHEMT and 65 nm CMOS processes transceiver (TRX) front-end (FE) for potential satellite communication applications is designed. This work investigates novel concepts of interweaving system functions across technologies. The overall size is reduced by adding the power management and biasing functions for the GaAs LNA within the CMOS TRX. This is accomplished by using a 5-stage tunable rectifier that uses RF power coupled from the output of the PA to generate the necessary negative voltage for gate biasing and the VD is supplied through an LDO via the CMOS input balun. The heterogeneous RX achieves NF of 2.6 dB including the wire-bonds, bumps and board parasitics. In over-the-air measurements using a 256-APSK 400 Mbaud signal, the RX achieves EVM of -26.6 dB and -28.7 dB with the TX off and on, respectively.