An x-band RFIC active phase shifter

Abstract— An active RFIC X-band phase shifter is implemented using IHP SiGe HBT 0.25 μm SGB25V technology with an improved vector sum method. The chip is formed by a three way Wilkinson power divider, three phase delays for 0-120-240 degrees, three similar RFIC LNAs and a final three way Wilkinson power combiner on the same chip and occupies an area of 4x1.8 mm2. The circuit provides both phase and amplitude control without the need of any additional digital circuitry. Phase shifting is simply based on the weighted vector sum of three vectors which are separated by 120º from each other. All 0-360 degree phase can be scanned simply by this method with the addition of amplitude control. The RFIC LNA circuit is fabricated and measurement results show that LNA has a gain of 10 - 13 dB with in the band of 6-9 GHz and 2-3 dB NF within the same band. The simulation results show that the phase can be scanned from 0-360 degrees with average 7 degree resolution for a 2 dB amplifier gain change. The gain of the overall active phase shifter circuit is 12-13 dB with output gain flatness is 1 dB and the circuit consumes 15.36 mW power. The circuit combines the amplifier with phase shifter and can be used for X-band applications.