CN111510072B

CN111510072B - High-frequency vector modulation type passive phase shifter

Info

Publication number: CN111510072B
Application number: CN202010423709.8A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 赵涤燹; 尤肖虎; 顾鹏; 高炜涵; 张成军
Original assignee: Southeast University; Chengdu T Ray Technology Co Ltd
Current assignee: Southeast University; Chengdu T Ray Technology Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-05-19
Filing date: 2020-05-19
Publication date: 2021-09-17
Anticipated expiration: 2040-05-19
Also published as: CN111510072A

Abstract

The invention discloses a high-frequency vector modulation type passive phase shifter, which comprises a first partial circuit (100) consisting of a coupler for generating orthogonal signals and an input matching network, a second partial circuit (200) and a third partial circuit (300) consisting of passive transistor arrays for controlling the amplitudes of in-phase signals and orthogonal signals, and a fourth partial circuit (400) consisting of an output matching network and a power synthesis network. The invention is suitable for CMOS process, zero power consumption, direct digital control 360-degree phase shift range and high-precision vector synthesis type passive phase shifter supporting bidirectional phase shift.

Description

High-frequency vector modulation type passive phase shifter

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of electronic circuit design, in particular to a high-frequency vector modulation type passive phase shifter.

Background

In recent years, communication in the sub-6GHz band has been developed, and the communication band of 6GHz or less has become crowded. On the other hand, a new generation of communication technology puts higher requirements on data transmission rate, and the sub-6GHz band cannot meet the increasing bandwidth requirement. Therefore, the high frequency band of 6GHz or more becomes a necessary choice for millimeter wave 5G communication and broadband satellite communication. High frequency communication introduces high loss while providing a large bandwidth, which will result in a significant reduction in the coverage area of the high frequency communication. To overcome the high loss problem of high frequency communications, phased array technology is introduced. Beamforming is one of the key technologies of phased array technology, and not only can make up for the propagation loss of high frequency, but also can realize flexible signal coverage.

The beam scanning of the phased array system is achieved by controlling the phase of the received or transmitted signal of each element in the array, and therefore, the phase control module, the phase shifter, becomes one of the key modules of the phased array system. To achieve high quality beam-forming and high precision beam scanning, the phase shifter should have a large phase-shifting range, high phase-shifting precision, and low phase-shifting added amplitude. Meanwhile, in order to reduce the overall power consumption of a large-scale array, the phase shifter should reduce the direct current power consumption as much as possible.

The vector modulation type phase shifter can naturally realize a phase shifting range of 360 degrees, and mainly comprises a quadrature signal generator, an amplitude controller and a power combiner. The orthogonal signal generator generates a pair of orthogonal signals, the two amplitude controllers respectively carry out amplitude adjustment on the two paths of orthogonal signals, and the power synthesizer synthesizes the orthogonal signals after amplitude modulation to realize the phase shifting function. Since the quadrature signal generator and the power combiner are generally passive structures and do not consume direct current power, the power consumption of the vector modulation type phase shifter is mainly determined by the amplitude controller portion. The phase shift performance is mainly determined by the accuracy of the quadrature signal and the accuracy of the amplitude control. Although the existing vector synthesis type phase shifter can realize higher phase shifting precision, the existing vector synthesis type phase shifter still has the defects. (1) The power consumption is high: the existing design usually adopts an active structure to realize amplitude control, can provide certain power gain to make up for the loss of an orthogonal signal generation module and a power synthesis module, but also brings higher power consumption, and is not beneficial to the low-power-consumption design of a large-scale phased array; (2) only one-way phase shifting is supported: the active amplitude controller is used for unidirectional amplitude control, so that the phase shifter based on active amplitude modulation does not support bidirectional phase shifting and cannot be multiplexed at the common ends of a receiving channel and a transmitting channel; (3) slow response: in some designs, an amplitude modulation module based on offset adjustment requires a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) to provide an analog control signal, which has a much reduced response speed compared to direct digital control. Therefore, it is difficult for the conventional vector modulation phase shifter to satisfy the requirements of low power consumption, low cost, and low delay in broadband satellite communication and millimeter wave 5G communication.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention aims to provide a high-frequency vector modulation type passive phase shifter which is suitable for a Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) process, has zero power consumption, supports bidirectional phase shifting, directly digitally controlled 360-degree phase shifting range and is a high-precision vector synthesis type passive phase shifter.

In order to solve the technical problems, the invention adopts a technical scheme that: the high-frequency vector modulation type passive phase shifter comprises a first partial circuit formed by a coupler for generating orthogonal signals and an input matching network, a second partial circuit and a third partial circuit formed by passive transistor arrays for controlling the amplitudes of in-phase signals and orthogonal signals, and a fourth partial circuit formed by an output matching network and a power synthesis network.

Further, the first part circuit comprises a coupler, an input matching network of I path signals and an input matching network of Q path signals, wherein the I path and the Q path are used for indicating the orthogonal relation of signal phases, and the input end of the coupler is connected with an input signal V_INThe output signal of the straight-through end of the coupler is used as the input of an I-path matching network, the output signal of the coupling end of the coupler is used as the input of a Q-path matching network, and the I-path input matching network converts the I-path single-end input signal into a differential signal V_I.IN+And V_I.IN-The Q-path input matching network converts the Q-path single-end input signal into a differential signal V_Q.IN+And V_Q.IN-。

Furthermore, the first part of the circuit is composed of a first inductor, a second inductor, a first resistor, a first capacitor, a second capacitor, a third capacitor, a fourth capacitor, a first transformer and a second transformer; the first inductor and the second inductor form a single-ended coupler for generating a single-ended quadrature signal, and the first resistor is connected to the isolation end of the coupler and grounded; what is needed isTwo inductors in the first transformer respectively form resonance with a first capacitor and a second capacitor to form an input matching network of an I-path signal, and two inductors in the second transformer respectively form resonance with a third capacitor and a fourth capacitor to form an input matching network of a Q-path signal; the input end of the coupler formed by the first inductor and the second inductor is connected with an input signal V_INThe output signal of the straight-through end is used as the input of the I-path matching network, and the output signal of the coupling end is used as the input of the Q-path matching network; the center tap of the secondary coil of the first transformer is grounded to form a balun structure, and the I-path single-end input signal is converted into a differential signal V in the secondary coil_I.IN+And V_I.IN-The center tap of the secondary coil of the second transformer is grounded to form a balun structure, and Q-path single-end input signals are converted into differential signals V in the secondary coil_Q.IN+And V_Q.IN-。

Furthermore, the second part of circuit is composed of a plurality of common-gate transistor array units which are connected in parallel.

Further, the single array unit consists of a first transistor, a second transistor, a third transistor, a fourth transistor, a first inverter and a second inverter, wherein the sources of the first transistor and the second transistor are connected and connected to the positive end V of the I-path input differential signal_I.IN+The sources of the third transistor and the fourth transistor are connected and are connected to the negative terminal V of the I-path input differential signal_I.INGates of the second transistor and the third transistor are connected to an output terminal of the first inverter, gates of the first transistor and the fourth transistor are connected to an output terminal of the second inverter, and drains of the first transistor and the third transistor are connected to serve as a positive terminal V for outputting the differential signal of the I-path_I.OUT+The drains of the second transistor and the fourth transistor are connected to be used as a negative terminal V of the Q-path output differential signal_I.OUT-。

Further, the first transistor, the second transistor, the third transistor and the fourth transistor are the same in size.

Further, the third partial circuit has the same structure as the second partial circuit.

Further, the fourth part of circuit comprises an I-path output matching network, a Q-path output matching network and a power combiner, and the power combiner combines the I-path and Q-path signals to obtain an output signal V of the phase shifter_OUT。

Further, the fourth part of the circuit is composed of a fifth capacitor, a sixth capacitor, a seventh capacitor, an eighth capacitor, a ninth capacitor, a tenth capacitor, an eleventh capacitor, a twelfth capacitor, a third transformer, a fourth transformer, a second resistor, a third inductor and a fourth inductor; two inductors in the third transformer respectively form resonance with a fifth capacitor and a sixth capacitor to form an I-path output matching network, and two inductors in the fourth transformer respectively form resonance with a seventh capacitor and an eighth capacitor to form a Q-path output matching network; the center tap of the primary coil of the third transformer is grounded to form a balun structure, and the I-path differential output signal is converted into a single-ended output signal V_I.OUTThe central tap of the primary coil of the fourth transformer is grounded to form a balun structure, and the Q-path differential output signal is converted into a single-ended output signal V_Q.OUTThe ninth capacitor, the tenth capacitor and the third inductor form a lumped element quarter-wave transmission line, and the input end of the lumped element quarter-wave transmission line is connected with the output V of the third transformer_I.OUTThe eleventh capacitor, the twelfth capacitor and the fourth inductor form a lumped element quarter-wavelength transmission line, and the input end of the lumped element quarter-wavelength transmission line is connected with the output V of the fourth transformer_Q.OUTThe output ends of the two transmission lines are connected, and the second resistor is bridged at the input ends of the two transmission lines.

Furthermore, the ninth capacitor, the tenth capacitor, the eleventh capacitor and the twelfth capacitor have the same size, and the third inductor and the fourth inductor have the same size

The invention has the beneficial effects that: the high-frequency vector modulation type passive phase shifter has the following technical effects:

firstly, the vector modulation phase shifter is realized by adopting a pure passive structure, the direct current power consumption is zero, and the power consumption of a phased array system, particularly a large-scale phased array system, can be greatly reduced;

secondly, the amplitude modulation module can realize positive and negative bidirectional amplitude modulation, correspondingly, the phase shifter can support bidirectional phase shifting, and the input and output of the phase shifter can be exchanged while the phase shifting performance is kept consistent, so that the amplitude modulation module can be reused at the common end of a receiving channel and a transmitting channel;

thirdly, the invention adopts a plurality of passive transistor switch array units connected in parallel to realize amplitude modulation, on one hand, direct digital control becomes possible, and response delay is greatly reduced, and on the other hand, the sensitivity of phase-shifting performance to process, power supply and temperature change is greatly reduced.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art will be briefly described below, it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments described in the present invention, and for those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained according to the drawings without creative efforts.

Fig. 1 is a schematic circuit diagram of a high-frequency vector modulation type passive phase shifter according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 shows the results of testing the forward phase shift performance of the 20-30 GHz phase shifter of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a result of testing the reverse phase shift performance of the 20-30 GHz phase shifter of the present invention;

FIG. 4 shows the phase shift error of the 20-30 GHz phase shifter of the present invention;

FIG. 5 shows the amplitude error of the 20-30 GHz phase shifter of the present invention.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention more apparent, embodiments of the present invention are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Examples of these preferred embodiments are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. The embodiments of the invention shown in the drawings and described in accordance with the drawings are exemplary only, and the invention is not limited to these embodiments.

It should be noted that, in order to avoid obscuring the present invention with unnecessary details, only the structures and/or processing steps closely related to the scheme according to the present invention are shown in the drawings, and other details not so relevant to the present invention are omitted.

Also, in the description of the present invention, the terms "center", "upper", "lower", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "inner", "outer", etc. indicate orientations or positional relationships based on those shown in the drawings, only for convenience of description and simplification of description, but do not indicate or imply that the referred device or element must have a specific orientation, be constructed in a specific orientation, and be operated, and thus, should not be construed as limiting the present invention. Furthermore, the terms "first" and "second" are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance.

Embodiment 1 of the present invention:

as shown in fig. 1, the high frequency vector modulation passive phase shifter structure provided by the present invention includes a quadrature coupler and input matching module 100,

amplitude control modules

200 and 300, and an output matching and power combining module 400.

As shown in fig. 1, the quadrature coupler in the first partial circuit 100 of the present invention is composed of

coupling inductors

101 and 102 and a resistor 103. The input end of which is connected with an input voltage V_INThe straight-through end and the coupling end output a pair of signals with equal amplitude and orthogonal phase. The coupler is designed to adopt a coupler structure based on a transformer, so that the area of the coupler can be effectively reduced, and the loss of the coupler is reduced. The I-path input matching network in the first partial circuit 100 is composed of a transformer 105 and

capacitors

104 and 106, the Q-path input matching network is composed of a transformer 108 and

capacitors

107 and 109, and the device parameters of the I-path matching network are the same as those of the Q-path matching network. The I path and the Q path are used for indicating the orthogonal relation of the signal phases. The matching network realizes the function of converting a single-ended signal into a differential signal on one hand and also realizes the function of impedance matching on the other hand, and the characteristic impedance of the coupler is matched with the input impedance of the amplitude modulation module.

Capacitors

104 and 106 and

capacitors

107 and 109 of the matching networkAnd the inductive resonance with the transformer coil is used for assisting in realizing impedance matching.

As shown in fig. 1, the second partial circuit 200 and the third partial circuit 300 in the present invention have the same structure, are modules for implementing signal amplitude control, and each of them is composed of 5 parallel common-gate transistor array units. Note that, the number of transistor array cells is 5 here, which satisfies the phase shift accuracy of 5.625 °, and if higher accuracy is required, more transistor array cells may be connected in parallel. Where each array cell includes four

common-gate transistors

201, 202, 203, 204 and two

inverters

205, 206. The direct current voltage of the source electrode and the drain electrode of the transistor is zero, so that no direct current power consumption exists, and the working area of the transistor is a variable resistance area, namely, the on resistance of the transistor can be changed by adjusting the grid voltage (such as 0V or 1V), so that the amplitude control is realized. The transistors within each array cell are the same size and the transistor size between different cells is gradually increased in a twofold relationship to achieve 5-bit (32 kinds) amplitude control. The sources of the

transistors

201 and 202 are connected in parallel and the positive terminal V of the input signal_I.IN+The sources of the transistors 203 and 204 are connected in parallel and the negative terminal V of the input signal is connected_I.IN-. The drains of the

transistors

201 and 203 are connected as the positive terminal V of the output signal_I.OUT+The drains of the transistors 202 and 204 are connected as the negative terminal V of the output signal_I.OUT-. The gates of transistors 201 and 204 are connected to the output of inverter 206, and the gates of

transistors

202 and 203 are connected to the output of inverter 205. The 5-bit digital control signal is directly connected to the input end of the first inverter of the 5 units, and high-speed 5-bit amplitude control can be realized.

As shown in fig. 1, the fourth partial circuit 400 of the present invention is composed of an output matching network and a power combiner. The I-path output matching network and the Q-path output matching network are respectively composed of a transformer 402,

capacitors

401 and 403, a transformer 405 and

capacitors

404 and 406, and the device parameters of the I-path matching network are the same as those of the Q-path matching network. The matching network realizes the function of converting the differential signal into the single-ended signal on one hand and also realizes the function of impedance matching on the other hand, and the output impedance of the amplitude modulation module is matched with the input impedance of the power synthesizer.

Capacitors

401, 403 and

capacitors

404, 406 of the matching network are used in conjunction with the transformerInductive resonance of the coil to assist in achieving impedance matching. In addition, the center taps of the primary windings of the

transformers

402 and 405 are grounded to provide a dc zero potential for the drains of the transistors in the second partial circuit. The power combiner in the fourth partial circuit 400 is composed of

capacitors

407, 408, 409, 410,

inductors

412, 413 and a resistor 411. The inductor 412, the

capacitors

407 and 408, the inductor 413, the

capacitors

409 and 410 respectively form two quarter-wavelength transmission lines, and the resistor 411 is connected across the input ends of the two quarter-wavelength transmission lines. The output signal of the power combiner is the phase-shifted output signal V_OUT。

FIG. 2 shows the forward phase shift test results of the phase shifter of the present invention, which can achieve a phase shift with a precision of 6 bits in a range of 360 degrees within a frequency band of 20-30 GHz, without overlapping phase states.

FIG. 3 shows the reverse phase shift test results of the phase shifter of the present invention, which can achieve phase shift with 6-bit precision in a range of 360 DEG within a frequency band of 20-30 GHz, without phase states overlapping. Note that the phase shifter has substantially uniform forward and reverse phase shifting performance.

FIG. 4 shows the phase shift error test results of the phase shifter of the present invention, wherein the Root Mean Square (RMS) error of the forward phase shift is less than 7 degrees in the frequency band of 20-30 GHz, and the error value is less than 5 degrees in the frequency band of 21.1-27.8 GHz. The phase shift errors of the positive and negative directions are basically consistent.

FIG. 5 shows the result of amplitude error test of the phase shifter of the present invention, wherein the Root Mean Square (RMS) error of the amplitude of the forward phase shift is less than 0.95dB in the frequency band of 20-30 GHz, and the error reaches a minimum value of about 0.28dB around 24 GHz. The amplitude errors of the positive direction and the negative direction are basically consistent.

The high-frequency vector modulation type passive phase shifter has the following technical effects:

Furthermore, it should be noted that in the present specification, "include" or any other variation thereof is intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, so that a process, a method, an article or an apparatus including a series of elements includes not only those elements but also other elements not explicitly listed, or further includes elements inherent to such process, method, article or apparatus. Without further limitation, an element defined by the phrase "comprising an … …" does not exclude the presence of other identical elements in a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises the element.

It should be understood that although the present description refers to embodiments, not every embodiment contains only a single technical solution, and such description is for clarity only, and those skilled in the art should take the description as a whole, and the technical solutions in the embodiments may be appropriately combined to form other embodiments understood by those skilled in the art.

Claims

1. A high-frequency vector modulation type passive phase shifter is characterized in that: the high-frequency vector modulation type passive phase shifter structure comprises a first partial circuit (100) consisting of a coupler for generating orthogonal signals and an input matching network, a second (200) and a third partial circuit (300) consisting of passive transistor arrays for controlling the amplitudes of in-phase signals and orthogonal signals, and a fourth partial circuit (400) consisting of an output matching network and a power synthesis network;

the second partial circuit (200) is formed by connecting a plurality of common-gate transistor array units in parallel;

the single array unit consists of a first transistor (201), a second transistor (202), a third transistor (203), a fourth transistor (204), a first inverter (205) and a second inverter (206), wherein the sources of the first transistor (201) and the second transistor (202) are connected and connected to the positive terminal VI.IN + of the I-path input differential signal, the sources of the third transistor (203) and the fourth transistor (204) are connected and connected to the negative terminal VI.IN-of the I-path input differential signal, the gates of the second transistor (202) and the third transistor (203) are connected with the output end of the first inverter (205), the gates of the first transistor (201) and the fourth transistor (204) are connected with the output end of the second inverter (206), the drains of the first transistor (201) and the third transistor (203) are connected to serve as the positive terminal VI.OUT + of the I-path output differential signal, the drains of the second transistor (202) and the fourth transistor (204) are connected to serve as a negative terminal VI.OUT < - > of the I-path output differential signal;

the fourth partial circuit (400) is composed of a fifth capacitor (401), a sixth capacitor (403), a seventh capacitor (404), an eighth capacitor (406), a ninth capacitor (407), a tenth capacitor (408), an eleventh capacitor (409), a twelfth capacitor (410), a third transformer (402), a fourth transformer (405), a second resistor (411), a third inductor (412) and a fourth inductor (413); two inductors in the third transformer (402) respectively form resonance with a fifth capacitor (401) and a sixth capacitor (403) to form an I-path output matching network, and two inductors in the fourth transformer (405) respectively form resonance with a seventh capacitor (404) and an eighth capacitor (406) to form a Q-path output matching network; the center tap of the primary coil of the third transformer (402) is grounded to form a balun structure, the I-path differential output signal is converted into a single-ended output signal VI.OUT, the center tap of the primary coil of the fourth transformer (405) is grounded to form the balun structure, the Q-path differential output signal is converted into a single-ended output signal VQ.OUT, the ninth capacitor (407), the tenth capacitor (408) and the third inductor (412) form a quarter-wavelength transmission line of a lumped element, the input end of the quarter-wavelength transmission line is connected with the output VI.OUT of the third transformer (402), the eleventh capacitor (409), the twelfth capacitor (410) and the fourth inductor (413) form a quarter-wavelength transmission line of the lumped element, the input end of the quarter-wavelength transmission line is connected with the output end VQ.OUT of the fourth transformer (405), the output ends of the two transmission lines are connected, and the second resistor (411) is connected across the input ends of the two transmission lines.

2. A high-frequency vector modulation type passive phase shifter according to claim 1, characterized in that: the first partial circuit (100) comprises a coupler, an input matching network of I-path signals and an input matching network of Q-path signals, wherein the I-path signals and the Q-path signals are used for indicating the orthogonal relation of signal phases, the input end of the coupler is connected with an input signal VIN, the through end output signal of the coupler is used as the input of the I-path matching network, the coupling end output signal of the coupler is used as the input of the Q-path matching network, the I-path input matching network converts the I-path single-end input signals into differential signals VI.IN + and VI.IN-, and the Q-path input matching network converts the Q-path single-end input signals into differential signals VQ.IN + and VQ.IN-.

3. A high-frequency vector modulation type passive phase shifter according to claim 2, characterized in that: the first partial circuit (100) is composed of a first inductor (101), a second inductor (102), a first resistor (103), a first capacitor (104), a second capacitor (106), a third capacitor (107), a fourth capacitor (109), a first transformer (105) and a second transformer (108); the first inductor (101) and the second inductor (102) form a single-ended coupler for generating a single-ended quadrature signal, and the first resistor (103) is connected to the isolation end of the coupler and grounded; two inductors in the first transformer (105) respectively form resonance with the first capacitor (104) and the second capacitor (106) to form an input matching network of an I-path signal, and two inductors in the second transformer (108) respectively form resonance with the third capacitor (107) and the fourth capacitor (109) to form an input matching network of a Q-path signal; the input end of a coupler formed by the first inductor (101) and the second inductor (102) is connected with an input signal VIN, the output signal of the through end is used as the input of the I-path matching network, and the output signal of the coupling end is used as the input of the Q-path matching network; the center tap of the secondary coil of the first transformer (105) is grounded to form a balun structure, the I-path single-end input signal is converted into differential signals VI.IN + and VI.IN-in the secondary coil, the center tap of the secondary coil of the second transformer (108) is grounded to form the balun structure, and the Q-path single-end input signal is converted into differential signals VQ.IN + and VQ.IN-in the secondary coil.

4. A high-frequency vector modulation type passive phase shifter according to claim 1, characterized in that: the first transistor (201), the second transistor (202), the third transistor (203) and the fourth transistor (204) are the same in size.

5. A high-frequency vector modulation type passive phase shifter according to claim 1, characterized in that: the third sub-circuit (300) has the same structure as the second sub-circuit (200).

6. A high-frequency vector modulation type passive phase shifter according to claim 1, characterized in that: the fourth partial circuit (400) comprises an I-path output matching network, a Q-path output matching network and a power synthesizer, and the power synthesizer synthesizes signals of the I path and the Q path to obtain an output signal VOUT of the phase shifter.

7. A high-frequency vector modulation type passive phase shifter according to claim 1, characterized in that: the ninth capacitor (407), the tenth capacitor (408), the eleventh capacitor (409) and the twelfth capacitor (410) are the same in size, and the third inductor (412) and the fourth inductor (413) are the same in size.