Design Of Silicon-based Integrated Millimeter-Wave Circuit On Metamaterials

Metamaterials, a new research hotspot, have received extensive attention in the past ten years for their unique physical properties. With the development of modern wireless communication systems and a variety of electronic application requirements, low cost, high integration and good performance has gradually become the constant goals of communications and electronics industries. Using the particular properties of metamaterials, researchers can optimize performance,reduce size, and perform functions that are difficult to achieve with conventional materials. The application of the metamaterials transmission line in the silicon-based process (CMOS and BiCMOS) can break the shackles of the traditional transmission line structure, optimize the structure, improve the performance and the silicon-based millimeter-wave circuit for the millimeter-wave integrated circuits. The main work and innovation of this paper are as follows:First of all, the resonant and non-resonant structure of the two metamaterial transmission lines were analyzed, the main study of its equivalent circuit model and transmission characteristics. The loaded SRR transmission lines are usually single-ended loading, and the loading efficiency of the metamaterial transmission line is low. It is usually necessary to increase the number of loaded SRR units to improve the quality factor (Q). While the structure of differential SRR loaded transmission line significantly improves the Q value and reduces the transmission loss. In this paper, the differential loaded SRR transmission line is optimized. The GCPW with single SRR cell structure is used to construct metamaterial transmission line, which can achieve smaller size and higher Q value.Secondly, a SPST switch based on the 0.13um SiGe BiCMOS process is designed by using the designed SRR-loaded GCPW transmission line. This switch by changing the base voltage of the transistors in the split ends of the loaded SRRs to adjust the SRRs’ resonant frequency, then the original high impedance band is moved to higher frequency, with the original band passable. That’s the way to achieve the on-off states of the switch. After the simulation and chip processing,we get the measure results with the on-chip measurement system. The SPST switch’s operating frequency is 58～59GHz and the isolation is 13dB, the insertion loss is 2.1dB. The chip size is smaller while the core size is 160 × 160um2.However, according to the simulation results the switch would have a good linearity and switching speed.Finally, by analyzing the principle of distributed frequency multiplier, the composite right-handed transmission line is used instead of the traditional half-wavelength traditional transmission line. A frequency doubler with a fundamental frequency of 140GHz was designed based on the 0.13um SiGe BiCMOS process.On the one hand, it retains the advantage of distributed high-conversion gain and large power output. Smaller half-wavelengths bring size problems, reducing wear and tear.