RMO2A-3

A Dual-Polarized Dual-Beam 28 GHz Beamformer Chip

Demonstrating a 24 Gbps 64-QAM 2x2 MIMO Link
Kerim Kibaroglu, Mustafa Sayginer, Ahmed Nafe and Gabriel M. Rebeiz
University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
kkibarog@ucsd.edu, msayginer@ucsd.edu, anafe@ucsd.edu, rebeiz@ece.ucsd.edu

Abstract — This paper presents a 28 GHz 2x4 element

transmit/receive (TRX) phased-array quad beamformer chip V1
PTAT SPI ESD PoR T/R Switch
V3
in SiGe BiCMOS and its use in a polarization based 2x2 ∑

MIMO link. The 2x4 TRX beamformer chip contains 8 V

H1 H3
channels, with each 4 channels combined on-chip using a ∑
∑

Wilkinson network into two common ports for the vertical (V) V2 V4
and horizontal (H) polarizations. Each channel contains 6-bit ∑

phase control, 20-25 dB gain control and delivers 11-12 dBm H H2

∑
H4
power at the output 1 dB compression point (OP1dB) in ∑

the TX mode and has 4.8 dB noise figure (NF) in the

RX mode. The beamformer chip is flipped on a printed RFV RFH
circuit board (PCB) containing a 2x2 dual-polarized antenna (a) (b)
array with low cross-polarization levels. A wireless link is
demonstrated using two phased-array boards operating with Fig. 1. Block diagram of (a) 64-element dual-polarized
two independent data streams simultaneously. A data rate of dual-beam 5G phased-array for a 2x2 MIMO link and (b) 2x4
12 Gbps per polarization (24 Gbps total data rate) is achieved TRX dual-beam quad beamformer chip.
using 16-/64-QAM waveforms. To our knowledge, this is the
first demonstration of a single-aperture 2x2 MIMO link at
millimeter-waves. and H-channels operate simultaneously could significantly
Index Terms — 5G communication link, 28 GHz, compromise the achievable data rate. These challenges
Ka-band, wireless, MIMO, phased-array, transmit/receive,
dual-polarized antenna, SiGe BiCMOS, QAM, EVM. become more severe if the same antenna is used for both
polarizations. This work aims to address these challenges
I. I NTRODUCTION and demonstrate a 2x2 MIMO link using dual-polarized
dual-beam phased-arrays where both V- and H-beams are
The development of fifth-generation (5G) data links directed at the same user to result in twice the data rate.
is advancing at a rapid pace. Although the 28 GHz
standards are not set yet, it is clear that 5G links will II. 2×4 TRX B EAMFORMER C HIP
utilize phased-arrays and spectrally efficient waveforms A dual-polarized dual-beam 5G phased-array based
(16-QAM or higher) to achieve data rates of 10 Gbps on 2x4 TRX beamformer quad chips is shown in Fig.
or higher [1]–[3]. For a single-carrier 64-QAM waveform 1a. Each chip contains eight TRX channels, four of
with 800 MHz modulation bandwidth, the data rate that which are connected together using an on-chip Wilkinson
can be achieved is limited to 4.8 Gbps per user, and combiner/divider network into two common ports for the
this motivates the use of multiple-beam phased-arrays V- and H-polarizations (Fig. 1b). Sixteen of these chips
with multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) capabilities are assembled on a PCB with dual-polarized antennas and
to achieve higher capacity. One way of doubling the link two independent Wilkinson networks to build a 64-element
capacity is by employing a 2x2 MIMO configuration with phased-array. Symmetry is maintained within both the chip
two independent data streams transmitted and received and the PCB so that both polarizations show identical
using two separate antenna arrays and beamformer chips responses. Each TRX channel of the 2x4 chip contains
for the V- and H-polarizations [4]. SPDT switches, LNA, PA, 6-bit phase shifter and two
While it is theoretically possible to double the data VGA stages with 20-25 dB gain control. The chip is
rate using dual-beam phased-arrays with two different controlled using an SPI interface and all reference currents
polarizations such as those presented in [1], [2], prior work are generated from an on-chip PTAT current generator.
have not yet demonstrated simultaneous data links using
two polarization beams. Port-to-port coupling on-chip A. Circuit Design
or on the PCB, antenna cross-polarization levels and The RX channel consists of a 2-stage LNA with 3-bit
any degradation in the chip performance when both V- gain control on its second stage, and a 6-bit vector

978-1-5386-4545-1/18/$31.00 © 2018 IEEE 64 2018 IEEE Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits Symposium
 OUT+ OUT-
2:1 4-bit
IN+ C-DAC
VDD1 = 1.2 V 3-bit 3-bit 260 pH

C-DAC
C-DAC
VDD2 = 2.2 V

5.6 mA 4x3 μm 5x7 μm OUT

200 pH
VB2 12 mA VDD2
VB3 VDD2 VB4
2x5 μm
IN 4x3 μm
Vc
3 μm 70 pH 85 fF
24 mA
VB1

IN- C-DAC
4-bit
9 dB attenuator 14 mA
switch

Fig. 3. Schematic of VGA with 4-bit gain control and PA (bias

Fig. 2. Schematic of 2-stage LNA with attenuator switch for circuits are not shown).
improved dynamic range.

B. 2x4 Beamformer Chip Measurements

modulator (VM) phase shifter followed by another VGA
with 4-bit gain control. The LNA employs a single-ended The 2x4 TRX beamformer quad chips were fabricated in
common-source stage followed by a passive balun and the Jazz SBC18H3 SiGe BiCMOS process with a die size
a differential stage with 3-bit gain control, and has a of 4.8 x 4.8 mm2 and a minimum pad spacing of 400 μm
measured gain of 16 dB and an NF of 2.7-2.8 dB at the for chip-scale packaging (Fig. 5). Probe measurements of
maximum gain state at 28 GHz (Fig. 2). a single channel are shown in Fig. 4. The RX gain is
The RX channel linearity is limited by the VM IP1dB of 15.5-18 dB over all phase states (rms gain error of 0.6 dB)
−7 dBm, and reducing the gain before the VM improves and with a measured NF of 4.8 dB (Fig. 4a). The RX
the RX linearity. However, current steering in the LNA IP1dB is −21 dBm and increases to −7 dBm when the
results in a constant IP1dB against gain control, and thus LNA is set to minimum gain and the 9 dB attenuator is
does not necessarily improve the system linearity. To solve turned on (Fig. 4b). The TX OP1dB is 11-12 dBm at 28-32
this, a switched-attenuator based on two reverse-saturated GHz with a gain of 21 dB, including the 6 dB division loss
HBTs is employed between the two LNA stages to increase
the linearity of the RX channel in low gain modes at the
24 14
cost of higher NF (Fig. 2). A small switch size of 3 μm is
TX OP1dB, RX IP1dB (dBm)
RX Gain, S11, S22, NF (dB)

Gain Sim.
16 8 TX OP1dB
chosen to result in a low off-state capacitance. The LNA
is designed to have an IP1dB of −15 dBm and an NF of 8 2 RX IP1dB

2.7 dB which increases to −6 dBm and 5.6 dB respectively 0 NF -4

LNA min. gain
Attn. on
when the attenuator is turned on. This results in improved -8
S22
-10
dynamic range for the beamformer in the RX mode. -16 -16 RX IP1dB
S11 max. gain
The TX channel consists of a 4-bit VGA, a 6-bit VM -24 -22
followed by another VGA stage with 4-bit gain control 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38
Frequency (GHz) Frequency (GHz)
driving a class-AB PA (Fig. 3). The TX VGAs employ (a) (b)
22 3
a similar current steering method for gain control as in
Normalized RX Phase (deg)

LNA cont. at 30 GHz

the LNA. The PA is a differential cascode design with 16 Attn. off 2

25 pH emitter degeneration for improved linearity and is

RX Gain (dB)

10 1 VGA cont.
biased in class-AB with some gain peaking for improved 4
LNA cont.
Attn. on 0
Attn. on

efficiency. A transformer balun is used at the PA output to -2 -1

LNA cont.
Attn. on
enable single-ended routing from the chip to the antennas. LNA cont.
-8 VGA cont. -2
The PA has a simulated OP1dB of 13.8 dBm with a Attn. on Attn. off
-14 -3
PAE of 18.8% at P1dB and can deliver a saturated output 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 -5 0 5 10 15
power of 14.9 dBm with a simulated PAE of 23.6%, all at Frequency (GHz) Gain (dB)
(c) (d)
28 GHz (including balun loss). The PA is followed by a
single-ended SPDT switch with 1.8 dB loss when driven Fig. 4. Measured (a) RX S-parameters and NF for all phase
at 13.8 dBm power and this results in a TX OP1dB of states, (b) TX OP1dB and RX IP1dB, (c) RX gain control, (d)
12 dBm per channel. RX phase change vs. gain control.

65
 10 10
V-Pol. H-Pol.

RX Normalized S21 (dB)

RX Normalized S21 (dB)
0 0
2x2 Dual Polarized Co-pol. Co-pol.
-10 -10
Antennas 27 dB
-20 36 dB -20
2x4 TRX
5.1 mm
Chip -30 -30
Cross-pol.
6.3 mm
-40 -40
Cross-pol.
4.8 mm
-50 -50
26 28 30 32 34 36 26 28 30 32 34 36
Frequency (GHz) Frequency (GHz)
(a) (b)
360 30
H-Pol. EIRP at P1dB = 26.2-26.5 dBm

RX Relative Phase (deg)

300
26
RFV RFH RFH RFV 240 H-Pol.

Pout (dBm)
V-Pol.
180 22
Fig. 5. Top and bottom views of the 2x2 dual-polarized Ideal IP1dB = 1 dBm
dual-beam array PCB with flipped die. Chip photograph is also 120

shown with a size of 4.8 x 4.8 mm2 .

18
60 at 29 GHz
at 29 GHz
0 14
0 8 16 24 32 40 48 56 64 -12 -8 -4 0 4
to 4 channels, and results in a PAE of 7.2% (includes all Phase state Pin (dBm)
(c) (d)
gain and phase functions, PA, balun and switch). The chip
consumes 150 mW per channel in the RX mode due to Fig. 6. Measured co-pol. and cross-pol. in the far-field for (a)
the very high linearity and 220 mW in the TX mode. V- and (b) H-polarizations in the RX mode, (c) phase states in
Fig. 4c presents the gain states in the RX mode. The the RX mode and (d) EIRP at 29 GHz.
total gain control range is 25 dB including the two VGA
stages and the 9 dB LNA attenuator with a corresponding
phase change of only ±3◦ (Fig. 4d). The low phase the phase of all four channels together. The measured
change is achieved at a much higher gain control range response for 64 phase states shows little deviation from the
compared to previous work [1], [3] since the gain control ideal line with an rms phase error <4◦ . The 2x2 antenna
is distributed over multiple stages within the channel. array results in a measured EIRP of 26.2-26.5 dBm at
P1dB at 29 GHz for both polarizations (Fig. 6d). All
III. S YSTEM M EASUREMENTS measured responses are similar for both polarizations.
A. 2x2 Dual-Polarized Dual-Beam Array Measurements
B. 2x2 MIMO Link Measurements
The chip was flipped on one side of a PCB with a
2x2 dual-polarized antenna array placed on the other side A dual-beam polarization-based 2x2 MIMO link was
(Fig. 5). The antenna is a probe-fed dual-polarized stacked measured using the setup shown in Fig. 7a. Two
patch design with a −10 dB impedance bandwidth of independent data streams of 16-/64-QAM signals are
28-32 GHz. Two feeds for the V- and H-polarizations are simultaneously generated at an RF of 29 GHz using two
connected to the 2x4 TRX chip with a simulated line loss channels of a Keysight M8195A AWG. The modulated
<0.6 dB. waveforms are amplified and fed into the dual-polarized
The 2x2 dual-polarized array was first measured in dual-beam 2x2 antenna array board set in the TX mode.
the RX mode using a VNA and with a standard-gain The waveforms are received by another 2x2 antenna array
horn antenna as the transmitter. The phase difference in the RX mode at 1 m link distance, downconverted
due to the different line lengths between the chip to an IF of 4 GHz and amplified (using external
and the 2x2 dual-polarized antenna feeds was first mixers and IF amplifiers). The received waveforms are
corrected using the phase shifter in each channel. Note demodulated simultaneously using two channels of a
that this correction was based on simulated line phase Keysight DSO-S804A oscilloscope running the VSA
difference and not on individual channel measurements. 89600 software. A photograph of the measurement setup
The measured RX frequency response agrees well with the is shown in Fig. 7b.
probe measurements and the cross-pol. level is <−27 dB The EVM was first measured using 100 Mbaud and
for both polarizations (Fig. 6a,b). The dip at 33 GHz is 800 Mbaud 64-QAM waveforms with different power
due to the onset of the odd-mode resonance of the stacked levels (Fig. 8a). The measurements were performed
patches and agrees with simulations. with both data streams operating at the same time. It
Fig. 6c presents the 6-bit phase response for the H-pol. was observed that turning on the second data stream
in the RX mode at 29 GHz and is measured by sweeping results in only ∼0.5% degradation in EVM due to the

66
 Keysight 6
E8267D V-Pol.
Keysight 5 H-Pol.
LO = 25 GHz DSO-S804A
RF = 29 GHz

EVM (%)
1m 4
Path loss 800 Mbaud
~62 dB 3 64-QAM
Keysight
M8195A AWG 2x2 Dual-Beam 2x2 Dual-Beam IF = 4 GHz 2
TRX Array TRX Array 100 Mbaud 64-QAM
(a) 1
8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22
EIRP (dBm)
TX Array (a)
DSO RX Array
12
V-Pol. 1 m Link
10 H-Pol.

EVM (%)
AWG 8
16-QAM
6.6 dB Backoff
(b) 6

4 64-QAM
H-Pol.
8 dB Backoff
2
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Data Rate (Gbps)
EVM = 5.0% 2 Gbaud
(b)

Fig. 8. Measured EVM at (a) different backoff levels for 100/800

V-Pol. Mbaud 64-QAM and (b) EVM at different data rates using
16-QAM at 6.6 dB backoff and 64-QAM at 8 dB backoff from
P1dB for a 1 m 2x2 MIMO link.
EVM = 4.8% 2 Gbaud

(c) demonstration of a single-aperture 2x2 polarization MIMO

link at mm-waves with a record-setting performance of
Fig. 7. (a) Measurement setup of the polarization based 24 Gbps total data rate.
2x2 MIMO link using two 2x2 dual-beam TRX arrays.
(b) Photograph of the measurement setup. (c) Measured IV. C ONCLUSION
simultaneous constellations of 2x12 Gbps (2 Gbaud per pol.) This paper demonstrates a 2x4 dual-polarized dual-beam
64-QAM link at 8 dB backoff with 4.8-5.0% EVM.
TRX beamformer quad chip and a 2x2 polarization MIMO
link with simultaneous measurements achieving 2x12
low cross-polarization levels of the antennas. Since the Gbps data rate using 16-/64-QAM. Future work includes
64-QAM waveform filtered with a roll-off factor of 0.35 the demonstration of long distance 4x4 MIMO links using
has a peak-to-average power ratio of 7.7 dB, the EVM 64- to 256-element phased-arrays for further increased
starts to increase beyond the 8 dB backoff level defined as capacity.
the difference between the average symbol power and the R EFERENCES
array EIRP at P1dB. [1] B. Sadhu et al., “A 28 GHz 32-element phased-array
EVM was then measured using 16-QAM at 6.6 dB transceiver IC with concurrent dual polarized beams and 1.4
backoff and 64-QAM at 8 dB backoff from P1dB degree beam-steering resolution for 5G communication,” in
at different modulation bandwidths and the results are 2017 IEEE ISSCC, Feb 2017, pp. 128–129.
presented in Fig. 8b. The 2x2 MIMO link can achieve a [2] H. T. Kim et al., “A 28GHz CMOS direct conversion
transceiver with packaged antenna arrays for 5G cellular
maximum data rate of 24 Gbps (12 Gbps per polarization) system,” in 2017 IEEE RFIC, June 2017, pp. 69–72.
using 3 Gbaud 16-QAM or 2 Gbaud 64-QAM. The [3] K. Kibaroglu et al., “An ultra low-cost 32-element 28 GHz
measured EVM is similar for both polarizations due to the phased-array transceiver with 41 dBm EIRP and 1.0-1.6
symmetric design and well matched performance of the Gbps 16-QAM link at 300 meters,” in 2017 IEEE RFIC,
2x4 TRX beamformer. A screenshot of the oscilloscope June 2017, pp. 73–76.
[4] S. Shahramian, M. J. Holyoak, and Y. Baeyens, “A
measurement showing two simultaneous constellations 16-element W-band phased array transceiver chipset with
with 2 Gbaud 64-QAM and 4.8-5.0% EVM is also flip-chip PCB integrated antennas for multi-gigabit data
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