A 71–86GHz 1024QAM Direct-Carrier Phase-Modulating Transmitter with Digital-to-Phase Converters and Constant-Envelope Phasors

This paper presents a 71–86GHz 1024QAM direct-carrier phase-modulating transmitter (DCPM-TX), solely by using 9-bit digital-to-phase converters based on digitally-controlled artificial dielectric (DiCAD) transmission lines, and constant-envelope phasor combiners. The prototype DCPM-TX delivers 20Gbps at 1024QAM and 25Gbps at 256QAM across 71–86GHz with peak Pout over 16dBm while consuming 340mW DC power and 0.675mm² core Si area.