A 5GHz-Band SiGe-MMIC Quadrature Modulator

using a Circular Polyphase Filter for 1Gbps Transmission

Kensuke Nakajima1, Noriharu Suematsu1, Keishi Murakami1, Tadashi Takagi1,
Hiroyuki Nakase2, Yoji Isota2, and Kazuo Tsubouchi2
1
Information Technology R&D Center, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation,
5-1-1 Ofuna, Kamakura-city, Kanagawa 247-8501, Japan, +81-467-41-2544
2
Research Institute of Electrical Communication, Tohoku University,
2-1-1 Katahira, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8577, Japan

Abstract — A 5GHz-band SiGe-MMIC direct conversion frequency baseband amplifiers and broad-band unit
quadrature modulator using a circular polyphase filter for mixers. It achieves high I/Q modulation accuracy suitable
high data rate is described. High I/Q vector accuracy is for 64-QAM OFDM signals having hundreds of MHz of
achieved using a circular polyphase filter with a completely channel bandwidth based on the IEEE 802.11a.
symmetric layout as a 90 degrees LO power divider. By
combining high cut-off frequency baseband amplifiers and
broad-band unit mixers, a fabricated quadrature modulator II. CIRCUIT DESIGN
shows the EVM of 3.3 %rms at 5.5 GHz using 64-QAM
OFDM signals with the channel bandwidth of 204 MHz,
which corresponds to the data rate of 1.161 Gbps.
Poly resistors MIM capacitors

I. INTRODUCTION VoutI
Vin
In recent years, there has been a strong demand for the
RF transceiver ICs for IEEE 802.11a/b/g applications. VoutQ
RF transceiver ICs based on direct conversion
architecture were reported [1]-[3]. They achieved small
VoutIb
size and low cost by eliminating the IF circuits. As the Vin
next generation WLAN, high data rate systems of more
than 100 Mbps [4] have become the focus. For these VoutQb
systems, the RF transceiver ICs should also have wide- Limb Limb
band characteristics.
For the direct conversion transmitter, one of the key
(a)
implementation challenges is to achieve high accurate
I/Q phase and amplitude balance [5] at the carrier
frequency. Several types of I/Q signal generators for the MIM capacitors
LimbQ+
use of direct conversion quadrature modulators of LimbI+
WLAN were reported [1]-[3], [6]-[9]. The polyphase VoutI VoutQ
Vin
filter shows the most attractive features from the view
point of small die size and simple circuits at 2–5 GHz
band [8], [9]. However, the polyphase filter has a
difficulty to connect all unit RC-filters with the same
length of transmission lines in the practical layout. The
effect of the imbalanced transmission lines on the phase VoutQb
and amplitude accuracy is not negligible for 5 GHz band Vin VoutIb
direct conversion quadrature modulator. A doubly Poly resistors LimbI-
LimbQ-
stacked polyphase filter [9] is one of the solutions to
overcome the layout problems, which demonstrated high
I/Q vector accuracy using a double number of resistors
(b)
and capacitors. However, the insertion loss is higher than
that of conventional one. Fig. 1. Schematics of the two-stage polyphase filters with
In this paper, a circular polyphase filter which has a imbalanced transmission lines: (a) conventional polyphase filter,
completely symmetric layout is proposed. It achieves (b) proposed circular polyphase filter.
high I/Q vector accuracy without the complexity of the
circuits and design. A direct conversion quadrature Figure 1 shows the schematics of the two-stage
modulator is fabricated by employing high cut-off conventional and circular polyphase filters. The
conventional polyphase filter [9] has the imbalanced BBin (I)
transmission lines (Limb) in the unit RC-filters, i.e.,
between the top resistor and bottom capacitor. On the
other hand, the proposed circular polyphase filter has no
imbalanced transmission lines in the unit RC-filters due
to the completely symmetric layout for each stage.
RFout LOin
㪊㪅㪇 RFout LOin
㪉㪅㪌
㪧㪿㪸㫊㪼㩷㪼㫉㫉㫆㫉㩷㩿㪻㪼㪾㪀

Limb=0.3nH
㪉㪅㪇
㪈㪅㪌 Circular Polyphase filter
LimbI > LimbQ
㪈㪅㪇
LimbI < LimbQ BBin (Q)
㪇㪅㪌
㪇㪅㪇
Fig. 3. Schematic diagram of the quadrature modulaor.
㪋㪅㪏 㪌㪅㪊 㪌㪅㪏 㪍㪅㪊 㪍㪅㪏
㪝㫉㪼㫈㫌㪼㫅㪺㫐㩷㩿㪞㪟㫑㪀
Figure 3 shows a schematic diagram of the quadrature
(a) modulator. The modulator consists of a two-stage
circular polyphase filter, a pair of I/Q local amplifiers,
㪇㪅㪋 up-conversion mixers, baseband amplifiers, an in-phase
㪤㪸㪾㫅㫀㫋㫌㪻㪼㩷㪼㫉㫉㫆㫉㩷㩿㪻㪙㪀

Limb=0.3nH combiner, and an output-buffer. The simulated

㪇㪅㪊 characteristics of the desired (LSB) and image (USB)
signal output power versus the local signal frequency are
㪇㪅㪉 shown in Fig. 4. The two-stage circular polyphase filter
was designed at the center frequency of 5.8 GHz. The
LimbI > LimbQ
㪇㪅㪈 local signal power was -10 dBm. The baseband signal
LimbI < LimbQ
frequency was 20 MHz. The amplitude was 130 mVp-p.
㪇㪅㪇 The image suppression of more than -56 dBc was
㪋㪅㪏 㪌㪅㪊 㪌㪅㪏 㪍㪅㪊 㪍㪅㪏 obtained over the wide frequency range from 5.0 to 6.0
㪝㫉㪼㫈㫌㪼㫅㪺㫐㩷㩿㪞㪟㫑㪀 GHz. This is corresponding to the phase error of less than
0.2 deg and the magnitude error of less than 0.02 dB.
(b)

Fig. 2. Simulated results of the two-stage conventional and

circular polyphase filters with imbalanced transmission lines: 㪄㪈㪇
㪦㫌㫋㫇㫌㫋㩷㫇㫆㫎㪼㫉㩷㩿㪻㪙㫄㪀

(a) phase error, (b) magnitude error (Limb=|LimbI-LimbQ|=0.3nH, 㪄㪉㪇

LimbI=LimbI+=LimbI-, LimbQ=LimbQ+=LimbQ-). 㪄㪊㪇 Desired signal
㪄㪋㪇 BB: 130mVp-p@20MHz
Figure 2 show the simulated results of the phase and
㪄㪌㪇 LO: -10dBm
magnitude errors of the two-stage conventional and
㪄㪍㪇 Image signal
proposed polyphase filters with imbalanced transmission
lines (Limb, LimbI+, LimbI-, LimbQ+, LimbQ-). Both the 㪄㪎㪇
conventional and proposed polyphase filters were 㪄㪏㪇
designed at the center frequency of 5.8 GHz. For the 㪌 㪌㪅㪉 㪌㪅㪋 㪌㪅㪍 㪌㪅㪏 㪍
circular polyphase filter, each differential pair between 㪣㫆㪺㪸㫃㩷㪝㫉㪼㫈㫌㪼㫅㪺㫐㩷㩿㪞㪟㫑㪀
the stages has the same length of transmission lines
(LimbI+=LimbI-=LimbI, LimbQ+=LimbQ-=LimbQ). The
transmission lines were assumed as inductances Fig. 4. Desired and image output signal power versus local
signal frequency.
(Limb=|LimbI-LimbQ|=0.3nH) in the simulation. It is
apparent that the conventional polyphase filter has larger
phase and magnitude errors than those of the proposed Figure 5 shows the desired output signal power versus
circular polyphase filter. On the other hand, the circular the baseband signal frequency. The baseband signal was
polyphase filter has almost no phase and magnitude continuous waves, which had the amplitude of 130 mVp-p
errors at the center frequency in spite of having the for all baseband signal frequencies. The local signal
imbalanced transmission lines between the I/Q power was -10 dBm of 5.5 GHz. The constant desired
differential pairs (|LimbI-LimbQ|=0.3nH). In order to output signal power was obtained over a wide frequency
achieve high I/Q vector accuracy, the transmission lines range from 1 MHz to 300 MHz by employing high cut-
having same length are required for the all connections of off frequency baseband amplifiers and broad-band unit
unit RC-filters. mixers.
 on the IEEE 802.11a. The EVM of less than 3 %rms was
㪇 obtained up to the channel bandwidth of approximately
㪦㫌㫋㫇㫌㫋㩷㫇㫆㫎㪼㫉㩷㩿㪻㪙㫄㪀 㪄㪌 BB: 130mVp-p
200 MHz. The EVM of higher than 200 MHz was
LO: -10dBm@5.5GHz
㪄㪈㪇 increased due to the transmit phase characteristics of the
baseband amplifiers.
㪄㪈㪌 The measured output spectrum and constellation of 64-
㪄㪉㪇 QAM OFDM signals having 832 subcarriers are shown
㪄㪉㪌 in Figs. 8 (a) and (b). The local signal frequency was
5.5GHz and the power was -10 dBm. The baseband
㪄㪊㪇 signal mean amplitude was 6.6 mVrms and the maximum
㪇 㪌㪇 㪈㪇㪇 㪈㪌㪇 㪉㪇㪇 㪉㪌㪇 㪊㪇㪇 amplitude was 73.2 mVp-p. The output spectrum
㪙㪸㫊㪼㪹㪸㫅㪻㩷㪝㫉㪼㫈㫌㪼㫅㪺㫐㩷㩿㪤㪟㫑㪀 bandwidth was 204 MHz and the corresponding data rate
was calculated to be 1.161 Gbps without FEC. The
Fig. 5. Desired output signal power versus baseband signal measured EVM of 3.3 %rms was obtained.
frequency.

III. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

The microphotograph of the quadrature modulator 204MHz
fabricated by a 0.35µm SiGe-BiCMOS is shown in Fig. 6.
The quadrature modulator core dimension is 0.8 x 1.0
mm2. The two-stage circular polyphase filter occupies 0.1
x 0.17 mm2. The power consumption is measured to be
37.3 mW at a supply voltage of 3.3 V.

BBin (I)

Circular polyphase filter

(a)
RFout LOin
RFout LOin

BBin (Q)

Fig. 6. Microphotograph of the direct quadrature modulator.

The size of the modulator is 0.8 x 1.0mm2.

㪎
㪍
㪌 (b)
㪜㪭㪤㩷㩿㩼㩷㫉㫄㫊㪀

㪋
㪊 Fig. 8. Measured results of 64-QAM OFDM signals with 832
subcarriers, which was calculated to be 1.161 Gbps without
㪉 FEC: (a) output spectrum, (b) constellation using software
㪈 demodulator.
㪇
㪇 㪈㪇㪇 㪉㪇㪇 㪊㪇㪇 㪋㪇㪇 㪌㪇㪇 IV. CONCLUSION
㪚㪿㪸㫅㫅㪼㫃㩷㪹㪸㫅㪻㫎㫀㪻㫋㪿㩷㩿㪤㪟㫑㪀
A 5GHz-band SiGe-MMIC quadrature modulator
Fig. 7. Measured error vector magnitude versus channel using a circular polyphse filter to achieve high data rate
bandwidth. was described. High I/Q vector accuracy was obtained
using a two-stage circular polyphase filter having a
The measured results of the error vector magnitude completely symmetric layout as a 90 degrees LO power
(EVM) versus channel bandwidth from 28 to 410 MHz divider. By employing high cut-off frequency baseband
using 64-QAM OFDM signals are shown in Fig. 7. The amplifiers and broad-band unit mixers, a fabricated
high data rate by 64-QAM OFDM signals were quadrature modulator achieved EVM of 3.3 %rms using
configured by increasing the number of subcarriers based 64-QAM OFDM signals with the channel bandwidth of
204 MHz, which was calculated to be 1.161 Gbps
without FEC. The quadrature modulator is aimed at a
direct conversion transmitter to be used in higher data
rate future wireless applications with no vector error
correction scheme.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This work was partially supported by the IT-program
(RR2002), Mext, Japan.
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