A CMOS 77 GHz radar receiver front-end

A receiver (Rx) front-end for automotive radar application operating at 76-77 GHz is presented. The Rx frontend employs double conversion architecture, which consists of a 5-stage low noise amplifier (LNA), a subharmonic mixer (SHM), and a double-balanced passive mixer (PSM). In the layout of the LNA, the output of each stage is placed adjoining to the input of the follow stage creating a LC resonance load. Hence complex interstage matching networks is avoided. SHM driven by 38 GHz LO is adopted to avoid push/pull effect and power hunger of VCO. PSM is utilized for second conversion since it consumes no DC current and has low flickering noise. With the proposed architecture, complex PLL design for radar system can be relaxed. The proposed Rx front-end is implemented in a 65 nm CMOS technology and the measurement results show 16 dB voltage gain, and 13 dB calculated noise figure (NF) while dissipating 23.5 mA from a 1.2 V supply. © 2013 EuMA.