Ryo MinamiAdvisor: Kenichi Okada
Co-Advisor: Akira Matsuzawa
Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan
Matsuzawa& Okada Lab.
A 60-GHz CMOS Direct-Conversion Wireless Transceiver
1
2
Outline
• Motivation• RF Front-end
─ 60GHz injection-locked oscillator(ILO) with 20GHz phase lock loop(PLL)
─ 60GHz transmitter(Tx)─ 60GHz receiver(Rx)
• Measurement and Comparison• Conclusion
3
Outline
• Motivation• RF Front-end
─ 60GHz injection-locked oscillator(ILO) with 20GHz phase lock loop(PLL)
─ 60GHz transmitter(Tx)─ 60GHz receiver(Rx)
• Measurement and Comparison• Conclusion
4
Motivation
57.24GHz - 65.88GHz 2.16GHz/ch x 4channels QPSK 3.5Gbps/ch 16QAM 7Gbps/ch
IEEE 802.11ad specification
• 60GHz CMOS direct-conversion transceiver for multi-Gbps wireless communication
57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66fGHz
240MHz
120MHz
1 2 3 4
1.76 GHz
2.16 GHz
5
Challenges for mmW Transceivers
• Target– a low-power direct-conversion RF
front-end with 4-channel coverage– very low phase noise
• Design complexity– 2.4GHz vs 60GHz (25x)– 20MHz-BW vs 2.16GHz-BW (108x)
6
Phase Noise RequirementFor 16QAM direct-conversion, -90dBc/Hz@60GHz is required.
0
1
2
3
4
5
-100 -98 -96 -94 -92 -90 -88 -86 -84
AM-AM of PA
16QAM
QPSKR
equ
ired
CN
R [
dB
]
Phase noise [dBc/Hz] @ 1MHz offset
• 60GHz QVCO[1]
• Low Q for capacitors
• 30GHz push-push VCO[2]
• 2nd harmonic• 90 degree hybrid
LO Topologies 1
7
Poor Phase Noise
I/Q mismatch
90 degree hybrid
[1] K. Scheir, et al., ISSCC 2009 [2] C. Marcu, et al., ISSCC 2009
Proposed Topology
8
• 20GHz PLL + 60GHz Quadrature Injection Locked Oscillator• Good tradeoff between phase noise & tuning range
• Target : 20dB improvement of phase noise
9
Outline
• Motivation• RF Front-end
─ 60GHz injection-locked oscillator(ILO) with 20GHz phase lock loop(PLL)
─ 60GHz transmitter(Tx)─ 60GHz receiver(Rx)
• Measurement and Comparison• Conclusion
10
Block Diagram
Tx Output
LNA
I Mixer
RF Amp.Rx input
PFD
20GHz PLL19.44GHz, 20.16GHz,20.88GHz, 21.60GHz
Q Mixer
I Mixer BB Amp.
LO Buf.
BB Amp.
RF Amp.
RF Amp.PA
Q MixerRx input
RF Amp.
36MHz
LO Buf.
CP LPF
÷4 CML÷5÷(27,28,29,30)
LogicChannel selectionGain controlPower managementTDD control
Controlsignals
I+
I-
Q+
Q-
I+
I-
Q+
Q-
Ref.Clk
60GHz QILO
BB Amp.
BB A
• Tx : 4-stage PA, Active mixer,• Rx : 4-stage LNA, Passive mixer• LO : 60GHz ILO, 20GHz PLL
11
60GHz Quadrature LO
36MHz ref.
PFD CP LPF19.44GHz20.16GHz20.88GHz21.60GHz 58.32GHz
60.48GHz62.64GHz64.80GHz
IQ
20GHz PLL 60GHz QILO
• Wide frequency tuning range• Phase noise improvement by injection locking
4 CML5(27,28,29,30)
VDD VDD
Q-
Q+I+
I-
12
Quadrature Injection Locked Osc.
• 60GHz QILO works as a tripler with 20GHz PLL.• Full 4-channel coverage is realized
with < -95dBc/Hz@1MHz-offset.
20GHz
20GHz
Phase noise
-95dBc/Hz@1MHz-offset has been realized in all channels.
-120
-110
-100
-90
-80
-70
-60
-50
-40
0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10
Ph
ase
no
ise
[dB
c/H
z]
Offset frequency [MHz]
-120
-110
-100
-90
-80
-70
-60
-50
-40
0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10
Ph
ase
no
ise
[dB
c/H
z]
Offset frequency [MHz]
-120
-110
-100
-90
-80
-70
-60
-50
-40
0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10
Ph
ase
no
ise
[dB
c/H
z]
Offset frequency [MHz]
-120
-110
-100
-90
-80
-70
-60
-50
-40
0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10
Ph
ase
no
ise
[dB
c/H
z]
Offset frequency [MHz]
Ch3:
62.64[GHz]Ch4:
64.80[GHz]
Ch1:
58.32[GHz]Ch2:
60.48[GHz]
13
Performance comparison ( 60GHz PLL )
TargetThis Work
(PLL+QILO)
[1](60GHz QVCO)
[2](30GHz VCO+90o hybrid)
fref[MHz] - 36.0 100.0 117VCO range
[GHz] 58.3 ~ 64.8 57.8 ~ 65.0 57.0~66.0 59.6~64
Phase noise@1MHz[dBc/
Hz]<90.0 -96.3 -75.0 -72.3
Power[mW] - 106.3 78.0 63.1
Output type Quadrature Quadrature Quadrature Quadrature
[1] K. Scheir, et al., ISSCC 2009 [2] C. Marcu, et al., ISSCC 2009 14
15
Tx Blocks4-stage PA MIM TL
Up-conversion mixer
from LO
to antenna
from BB I/Q
MIM TLTL
capacitive cross-coupling [3]
[3] W. Chan, et al., JSSC 2008
16
Rx Blocks4-stage CS-CS LNA
Down-conversion mixer
Parallel-line trans.
to BB I/Q
from LO
from antenna
W=1m x40 1m x40 2m x20 2m x20
ESD protection
17
Outline
• Motivation• RF Front-end
─ 60GHz injection-locked oscillator(ILO) with 20GHz phase lock loop(PLL)
─ 60GHz transmitter(Tx)─ 60GHz receiver(Rx)
• Measurement and Comparison• Conclusion
65nm CMOSTx:1.96mm2
Rx:1.77mm2
PLL:1.37mm2
Logic:0.38mm2
LNA
4.2m
m
65nm CMOS (RF)
LNAQ MIXER
I MIXER
LO BUF.
LO BUF.
Q.OSC.
Logic
I MIXER
Q MIXER
LO BUF.
LO BUF.
Q.OSC.PA
PLL LO BUF.
Die Photo
18
19
RF Measurement Setup
I/Q
Control signals
RF board(Tx mode)
I/Q
Control signals
RF board(Rx mode)
Power supply Power supply
AWGAgilent M8190A
OscilloscopeAgilent DSA91304A
Laptop PC
I/Q output (Rx)
I/Q input (Tx)
DC supply
DC supply16.3mm x 14.4mm
6-dBi antenna
Tx
[4] R. Suga, et al., EuMC 2011
Rx
with VSA 89600
-40
-30
-20
-10
0
10
55.08 58.32 61.5
-40
-30
-20
-10
0
10
57.24 60.48 63.7-40
-30
-20
-10
0
10
59.40 62.64 65.8
-40
-30
-20
-10
0
10
61.56 64.80 68.0
-40
-30
-20
-10
0
10
59.40 62.64 65.8
20
7.0Gb/s 16QAM (max 10Gb/s)
Channel ch.1 ch.2 ch.3 ch.4 Max rate
Constellation
Spectrum
Data rate* 7.0Gb/s 7.0Gb/s 7.0Gb/s 7.0Gb/s 10.0Gb/s(ch.3)
EVM** -23.0dB -23.0dB -23.3dB -22.8dB -23.0dB (ch.3)
Distance*** 0.3m 0.5m 0.5m 0.3m >0.01m (ch.3)
*The roll-off factor is 0.25. The bandwidth is 2.16GHz except for Max rate.**EVM through Tx and Rx boards. ***Maximum distance within a BER of 10-3. The 6-dBi antenna in the package is used.
21
Arch. Max. rate in 16QAM
Distance for BER <10-3
PDC (Tx/Rx)
IMEC[5] Direct 7Gb/sch.1-4(EVM < -17dB)(not wireless)
176mW/112mW(w/o PLL)
CEA-LETI[6] Hetero 3.8Gb/s
ch.1-4
EVM=-20.7dB(Tx)
EVM=-19.2dB(Rx)
1,357mW/ 454mW
SiBeam[7] Hetero 7Gb/s
ch.2-3 (EVM < -19dB)50m (LOS)16m (NLOS)
1,820mW/ 1,250mW
This work
Direct 10Gb/sch.1-4 (EVM < -23dB) 1.3-1.6m (QPSK) 0.3-0.5m (16QAM)
319mW/ 223mW
Performance Comparison
[5] V. Vidojkovic, et al., ISSCC 2012 [6] A. Siligaris, et al., ISSCC 2011[7] S. Emami, et al., ISSCC 2011
02468
101214161820
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Da
ta r
ate
[G
b/s
]
Year
UCB
NEC OOK
Univ. of Toronto
FSKOOK
SiBeam, CEA-LETI
16QAM
QPSK+16QAMTokyo Tech
Toshiba
IMEC
direct-conversionother arch.
all oscillators inc.
QPSK+16QAM
Performance Comparison
23
Outline
• Motivation• RF Front-end
─ 60GHz injection-locked oscillator(ILO) with 20GHz phase lock loop(PLL)
─ 60GHz transmitter(Tx)─ 60GHz receiver(Rx)
• Measurement and Comparison• Conclusion
24
Summary and Conclusion• A 60-GHz direct-conversion wireless transceiver is
implemented using CMOS 65nm process.• Excellent phase noise has been realized in full 4-
channels.• The first complete transceiver covering full 4
channels with 16QAM.• Max 10Gbps data rate has been realized.• A high-speed low-power mmW transceiver has
been realized.
25
Thank you for your attention.
26
Backup slides
27
60GHz Quadrature LO Scenario
• 60GHz quadrature PLL– Phase noise degradation
e.g. -75dBc/Hz@1MHz-offset at 60GHz [1]
• 60GHz PLL with 90o hybrid [2]
– I/Q mismatch
• 60GHz quadrature ILO with 20GHz PLL[This work]
– ILO: Injection-locked oscillator– Very wide tuning – Excellent phase noise
[1] K. Scheir, et al., ISSCC 2009[2] C. Marcu, et al., ISSCC 2009
Schematic of QILO
• I-Q coupling with tail transistor• Half side injection
QnIn
Ip Qp
VDDINJn
INJp
Vctrl
Vsw1
Vsw2
Vsw
varactor
28
back-to-back layout
• I-Q coupling path– coventional : 40um this work : 8um– reduction of parasitic component – Low I-Q mismatch
Die photo of QILO Schematic
VDD VDD
Q-
Q+I+
I-
180um
85u
m
29
Layout of ILO
30
Injection Locked Oscillator ( ILO )
Phase noise is determined by following equation[12].
[12] X. Zhang, TMTT 1992
60GHz60/n GHz
Injection Lock
n=1,2,3… Free-run: 60.1GHz → Locked: 60GHz
60GHz60.1GHz60GHz
Pulling of VCOs
31
MIM Transmission Line• De-coupling use• Modeling accuracy• Avoiding self-resonance of
parallel-plate capacitors
0123456789
10
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70Frequency [GHz]
Z0
[Oh
m]
MeasuredModel
GND
MIM TL
GND
GND
GND
TL
MIM capacitor
MIM transmission line
50 transmission line
T. Suzuki, et al., ISSCC 2008 32
33
RF Performance Summary
Tx
CG 18dB
P1dB -2dBm
Psat 5.6dBm
Rx
CG 23dB (high-gain mode)
9dB (low-gain mode)
NF < 4.9dB (high-gain mode)
IIP3 -14dBm (low-gain mode)
LO
Injection PLL 19.44, 20.16, 20.88, 21.60GHz
Ref. spur <-58dBc @ 20.16GHz
Locking range 1.4GHz
Quadrature ILO 58.0-64.7GHz (free-run)
Phase noise@1MHz-offset < -95dBc/Hz (every channel)
34
Measured Rx SNR
-80
-70
-60
-50
-40
-30
-20
-10
0
10
20
30
40
-70 -60 -50 -40 -30 -20 -10
SN
DR
[dB
]P
ou
t, IM
3, N
ois
e F
loo
r[d
Bm
]
Pin [dBm]
High GainLow Gain
SNDR
Pout
IM3
NoiseFloor
16QAM(17dB)
QPSK(10dB)
Link Budget
35
Modulation QPSK 16QAMDistance 1.5m 0.5mData rate (2.16GHz-BW) 3.5Gb/s 7.0Gb/sTx output 6.0dBm
Back-off 4.0dB 5.0dB
Tx/Rx antenna gain 6.0dBi
Implementation loss -3.0dB
NF 6.0dB
Received CNR 14.0dB 22.5dB
Margin +4.6dB +4.3dB
Mixer Layout (Core)
36
LO+ LO-
RF+
RF-
RF+
RF- LO-
LO+
Symmetric core Asymmetric core
• Mixer core excluding intersection─ LO line and RF line cross in matching network
• Mixer core including intersection─ bad symmetrical property
Symmetric Core Layout
37
• Symmetric core needs crossed and complicated matching network.
LO-
RF-
LO+
RF+
IF+
IF-
LOp LOn
RFp
RFn
Mixer core
Asymmetric Core Layout
38
• Asymmetric core can realize simple matching network.
LO+
LO-RF-
RF+
IF+ IF-
LOpLOn
RFp
RFn
Mixer core
I/Q Mismatch by Mixer Layout
• Sideband Rejection Ratio (SRR)
39
SRRAmplitude
ErrorPhaseError
Symmetriccore
-24.5 [dB] 0.04[dB] 6.8[deg]
Asymmetriccore
-42.3[dB] 0.02[dB] 0.9[deg]
60GHz LORF output
I Mixer
Q Mixer
0o
90o
0o
BB input
90o
BB inpu[GHz]
[dB
m]
SRR [dB]
LO leak
40
Arch. Max. rate in 16QAM
Distance for BER <10-3
PDC (Tx/Rx)
IMEC[5] Direct 7Gb/sch.1-4(EVM < -17dB)(not wireless)
176mW/112mW(w/o PLL)
CEA-LETI[6] Hetero 3.8Gb/s
ch.1-4
EVM=-20.7dB(Tx)
EVM=-19.2dB(Rx)
1,357mW/ 454mW
SiBeam[7] Hetero 7Gb/s
ch.2-3 (EVM < -19dB)50m (LOS)16m (NLOS)
1,820mW/ 1,250mW
This work
Direct 10Gb/sch.1-4 (EVM < -23dB) 1.3-1.6m (QPSK) 0.3-0.5m (16QAM)
319mW/ 223mW
Performance Comparison
[5] V. Vidojkovic, et al., ISSCC 2012 [6] A. Siligaris, et al., ISSCC 2011[7] S. Emami, et al., ISSCC 2011
41
Max. rate in 16QAM
Distance for BER <10-3 with 2.16GHz-BW
Area
IMEC[5] 7Gb/sch.1-4(EVM < -17dB)(not wireless)
0.7mm2
CEA-LETI [6]
3.8Gb/sch.1-4
EVM=-20.7dB(Tx)
EVM=-19.2dB(Rx)
9.3mm2(TRx)0.46mm2(PA)
SiBeam [7]
3.8Gb/sch.2-3 (EVM < -19dB)50m (LOS)16m (NLOS)
72.2mm2(Tx)72.7mm2(Rx)
This work 10Gb/sch.1-4 (EVM < -23dB) 1.3-1.6m (QPSK) 0.3-0.5m (16QAM)
5.48mm2
Performance Comparison
[5] V. Vidojkovic, et al., ISSCC 2012 [6] A. Siligaris, et al., ISSCC 2011[7] S. Emami, et al., ISSCC 2011
42
Integration #ch.Data rate (16QAM)
PDC (Tx/Rx)
IMEC[5] RF (Direct) 47Gb/s(not wireless)
176mW/112mW
(w/o PLL)
CEA-LETI [6]
RF (Hetero) 4 3.8Gb/s1,357mW / 454mW
SiBeam [7] RF (Hetero) 2 3.8Gb/s 1,820mW/ 1,250mW
Tokyo Tech(This work)
RF (Direct) 4RF: w/ wider-BW
10Gb/s319mW
/ 223mW
Performance Comparison
[5] V. Vidojkovic, et al., ISSCC 2012 [6] A. Siligaris, et al., ISSCC 2011[7] S. Emami, et al., ISSCC 2011
43
Challenges for 60GHz Transceivers• Direct-conversion full CMOS integration• 16QAM/8PSK/QPSK/BPSK support for
IEEE802.15.3c, WiGig, Wireless HD, etc.• 60GHz quadrature LO
– Low phase noise for 16QAM– Wide frequency tuning (58-to-65GHz)– I/Q phase balance
• 60GHz LNA– Low NF & High linearity– Wide bandwidth (gain flatness)
• 60GHz PA– 10dBm output– High PAE (>10%)
44
PPF
Injection-Locked Oscillator
I Q
20GHz
60GHz
PPF:polyphase filter[3] W. Chan, el al., ISSCC 2008
20GHz
60GHz
I Q
Previous work [3] This work
I/Q mismatch Single-side injection- Small I/Q mismatch - The same locking range