A 50-68GHz IF Absorptive Receiver with 8-GHz IF-Bandwidth Supporting 16-Channel Carrier-Aggregation and 12Gbps-64QAM Modulation For 5G NR FR2-2 Application

This paper presents a 50–68 GHz IF absorptive receiver. The intermodulation interference caused by IF signal reflection to the mixer is mitigated through absorptive IF amplifier, enabling a wideband and flattened IF bandwidth. The wideband optimal noise performance and input matching of the LNA are achieved using a defectively-coupled transformer. Verified in a conventional 40-nm bulk CMOS technology, the proposed receiver demonstrates a 26.2 dB conversion gain and a gain tuning range of 13 dB with an 8 GHz IF bandwidth. Full-band I/Q calibration-free operation is achieved, with an image rejection ratio (IRR) ranging from 28 to 60.5dB. Benefited from the IF absorption technique, the proposed RX supports 4Gbps-256QAM modulation, 9.6Gbps-64QAM 16-channel and 12Gbps-64QAM 8-channel carrier aggregation, which is attractive for 5G NR FR2-2 applications.