CN117879516A

CN117879516A - Radio frequency amplifying circuit, distributed active transformer structure and radar device

Info

Publication number: CN117879516A
Application number: CN202311448227.8A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 薛裕婷; 刘正东
Original assignee: Calterah Semiconductor Technology Shanghai Co Ltd
Current assignee: Calterah Semiconductor Technology Shanghai Co Ltd
Priority date: 2023-11-01
Filing date: 2023-11-01
Publication date: 2024-04-12

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to the field of wireless communications technologies, and in particular, to a radio frequency amplifying circuit, a distributed active transformer structure, and a radar apparatus, where the radio frequency amplifying circuit includes: the first distributed active transformer subassembly has the K way vary voltage coil group that is annular distributed setting, and the slave coil of K way vary voltage coil group has millimeter wave signal's output, and vary voltage coil group includes: a differential transformer coil; the output end of the K-way driving component is electrically connected with the input end of the K-way voltage transformation coil group in a one-to-one correspondence manner, and the driving component is configured to receive the differential control signal and perform power amplification on the differential control signal to generate a differential amplification signal; each path of transformation coil set is configured to generate an initial output signal based on the differential amplification signal; the first distributed active transformer assembly is configured to synthesize millimeter wave signals from K initial output signals output by the K transformer coil sets.

Description

Radio frequency amplifying circuit, distributed active transformer structure and radar device

Technical Field

The disclosure relates to the technical field of wireless communication, and in particular relates to a radio frequency amplifying circuit, a distributed active transformer structure and a radar device.

Background

The rapid development of modern wireless communication systems is increasingly demanding in terms of high performance millimeter wave transmitters, which is a great challenge in terms of how to design millimeter wave transmitters with greater output power, less area, lower power consumption, and higher efficiency. And the power amplifier is used as a component with the largest power consumption in the millimeter wave transmitter, and the performance of the power amplifier obviously influences various performances of the millimeter wave transmitter.

A power amplifier is a device that converts Direct Current (DC) power into Radio Frequency (RF) power by being driven by a certain input signal. I.e. the power level of the output power amplifier determines the power level of the output rf signal, which determines the detection range of the radar, i.e. a power amplifier with a high output power is crucial for automotive radar systems using continuous frequency modulated waves (Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave, FMCW).

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the disclosure provides a radio frequency amplifying circuit, a distributed active transformer structure and a radar device, which are at least used for reducing layout area occupied by the circuit.

An embodiment of the present disclosure provides a radio frequency amplifying circuit for synthesizing and outputting a millimeter wave signal, including: the first distributed active transformer subassembly has K way vary voltage coil group that is annular distributed setting, and the slave coil of K way vary voltage coil group has millimeter wave signal's output, and each way vary voltage coil group in K way vary voltage coil group includes: a differential transformer coil; wherein K is an integer greater than or equal to 2; the output ends of the K paths of driving components are electrically connected with the input ends of the K paths of voltage transformation coil groups in a one-to-one correspondence manner, wherein each path of driving component in the K paths of driving components is configured to receive differential control signals and amplify the power of the differential control signals to generate differential amplified signals; each path of transformation coil group is configured to generate an initial output signal based on the differential amplification signal; the first distributed active transformer assembly is configured to synthesize millimeter wave signals from K initial output signals output by the K transformer coil sets.

In some embodiments, the transformation ratio of the transformer coil is 1: ni, wherein Ni is any real number, and i is used for indicating the corresponding transformer coil group.

In some embodiments, the coil transformation ratio of each transformer coil in the K-way transformer coil set is the same.

In some embodiments, each of the K-way drive assemblies includes: a power amplifier unit and a driver unit; the output end of the driver unit and the input end of the power amplifier unit are arranged based on differentially arranged variable-voltage coils, and the output end of the power amplifier unit is connected with the input end of a corresponding variable-voltage coil group; the driver unit is configured to generate a differential drive signal based on the differential control signal; the power amplifier unit is configured to generate a differential amplified signal based on the differential drive signal.

In some embodiments, the driver unit and the power amplifier unit communicate the differential control signal through coil inductive coupling.

In some embodiments, the driver unit includes: an output coil comprising: the first end, the second end and the center tap, wherein the distance between the center tap and the first end is equal to the distance between the center tap and the second end, and the center tap is used for receiving the power supply voltage; the drain electrode of the first MOS tube is connected with the first end of the output coil, and the source electrode of the first MOS tube is grounded; the drain electrode of the second MOS tube is connected with the second end of the output coil, and the source electrode of the second MOS tube is grounded; the grid electrode of the first MOS tube and the grid electrode of the second MOS tube are used for receiving the differential control signals, and when the first MOS tube and the second MOS tube are conducted based on the differential control signals, the output coil generates differential driving signals; a power amplifier unit comprising: an input coil, based on a transformer coupled output coil, comprising: a first end and a second end; the grid electrode of the third MOS tube is connected with the first end of the input coil, and the source electrode of the third MOS tube is grounded; a grid electrode of the fourth MOS tube is connected with the second end of the input coil, and a source electrode of the fourth MOS tube is grounded; the drain electrode of the third MOS tube and the drain electrode of the fourth MOS tube are connected with the input ends of the corresponding transformer coil groups, and when the input coils are connected with the third MOS tube or the fourth MOS tube based on differential driving signals generated by differential control signals, the drain electrode of the third MOS tube or the drain electrode of the fourth MOS tube is used for outputting differential amplification signals.

In some embodiments, K driving switches are further disposed in the first distributed active transformer assembly, each driving switch of the K driving switches corresponds to the transformer coil set one by one, and two ends of the driving switch are connected to differential input ends of the corresponding transformer coil set.

Another embodiment of the present disclosure provides a distributed active transformer structure for forming the first distributed active transformer assembly mentioned in the above embodiment, including: the first layout layer is provided with main coils of K paths of transformer coil groups in the first distributed active transformer component; the second layout layer is provided with slave coils of the K-path transformer coil group; the main coil and the slave coil are inductively coupled, and the second layout layer and the first layout layer are different metal layers; the first layout layer comprises K paths of differential input ends, and each path of differential input end in the K paths of differential input ends correspondingly receives one path of differential amplified signals; the second layout layer comprises a first output end and a second output end, the first output end is grounded, and the second output end is used for outputting millimeter wave signals.

In some embodiments, the first layout layer includes: k sections of main coupling lines which are annularly arranged; each of the K sections of primary coupled lines includes: a first coil, a first extension metal wire, and a second extension metal wire; the first coil includes: the center tap is used for receiving the power supply voltage; one end of the first extension metal wire is connected with the first end of the first coil, and the other end of the first extension metal wire is used as a first contact point of the main coupling wire; one end of the second extension metal wire is connected with the second end of the first coil, and the other end of the second extension metal wire is used as a second contact point of the main coupling wire; and the first contact point of the main coupling line and the second contact point of the adjacent main coupling line are used for receiving one path of differential amplified signal. The second layout layer comprises: the ring-shaped secondary coupling lines are provided with breakpoints, and the first output end and the second output end are formed based on the breakpoints.

In some embodiments, the projection of the slave coupled line overlaps the projection of the K segments of the master coupled line in a direction perpendicular to the first layout layer and the second layout layer.

In some embodiments, the first layout layer and the second layout layer are located in a package structure of the chip.

In some embodiments, the first output and the second output are provided as contact nodes of the encapsulation layer.

Still another embodiment of the present disclosure provides a radar apparatus, where the radar apparatus includes a radar chip, and the radio frequency amplifying circuit provided in the foregoing embodiment is disposed in the radar chip, and is at least used to reduce a layout area occupied by the circuit.

In some embodiments, a radar chip includes: the signal generator, the local oscillation circuit and the power amplifying circuit are connected in sequence; the power amplifying circuit comprises the radio frequency amplifying circuit provided by the embodiment.

In some embodiments, the radar apparatus further comprises: and the transmitting antenna in the antenna array is connected with the output end of the radio frequency amplifying circuit so as to radiate millimeter wave signals into free space.

Drawings

One or more embodiments are illustrated by way of example and not limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings, which are not to be construed as limiting the embodiments unless specifically indicated otherwise; in order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present disclosure or the technical solutions in the conventional technology, the drawings required for the embodiments will be briefly described below, and it is apparent that the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present disclosure, and other drawings may be obtained according to these drawings without inventive effort to those of ordinary skill in the art.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of power combining according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a radio frequency amplifying circuit according to an embodiment of the disclosure;

fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a specific structure of a first distributed active transformer assembly according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, including two transformer coil sets;

fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of a specific structure of a first distributed active transformer assembly according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, including a four-way transformer coil assembly;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a driving assembly according to an embodiment of the disclosure;

fig. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of the integrated rf amplifying circuit formed by fig. 3 and 5 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of the example accessory drive switch of FIG. 3 provided in accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of the example accessory drive switch of FIG. 4 provided in accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of a power divider according to another embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 10 is a schematic diagram of a specific structure of a second distributed active transformer assembly according to another embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 11 is a schematic diagram of a specific structure of a pre-driving assembly and a second distributed active transformer assembly according to another embodiment of the present disclosure;

Fig. 12 is a schematic diagram of a specific structure of a second distributed active transformer assembly with common mode voltage according to another embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 13 is a schematic diagram of the millimeter wave generation circuit constructed in fig. 12 and 6 provided in accordance with another embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 14 is a schematic structural view of a biasing assembly provided in another embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 15 is a schematic diagram of a multi-stage power divider according to another embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 16 is a schematic structural view of a distributed active transformer structure including a two-way transformer coil set according to another embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 17 is a schematic diagram of a distributed active transformer structure including two-way transformer coil sets of a power supply layout according to another embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 18 to 20 are schematic structural diagrams of a distributed active transformer structure including a four-way transformer coil set according to another embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 21 is a schematic diagram of a distributed active transformer structure including a power domain four-way transformer coil set according to another embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 22 is a schematic structural diagram of a distributed active transformer structure according to another embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 23 is a schematic structural diagram of a distributed active transformer structure with the same common mode voltage from a coil structure according to another embodiment of the present disclosure;

Fig. 24 is a schematic layout diagram of several first transmission metal lines and second transmission metal lines according to another embodiment of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

As known from the background art, the output power of the power amplifier determines the power of the output rf signal, and the power of the output rf signal determines the detection distance of the radar, i.e. a power amplifier with high output power is critical for an automotive radar system using continuous frequency modulated waves (Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave, FMCW).

An embodiment of the present disclosure provides a radio frequency amplifying circuit, which is at least used for improving output power of a power amplifier, and the layout area occupied by the circuit is small.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will understand that in various embodiments of the present disclosure, numerous technical details are set forth in order to provide a better understanding of the present disclosure. However, the technical solutions claimed in the present disclosure can be implemented without these technical details and with various changes and modifications based on the following embodiments. The following embodiments are divided for convenience of description, and should not be construed as limiting the specific implementation of the disclosure, and the embodiments can be combined with each other and cited with each other without contradiction.

In particular, to realize a power amplifier having a high output power, a method using power synthesis is naturally conceivable. Power synthesis techniques based on transformers can be largely divided into two categories: voltage-type power synthesis and current-type power synthesis. The principle of voltage-type power synthesis is referred to fig. 1 (a), and the principle of current-type power synthesis is referred to fig. 1 (b).

For a coil with differential K paths, the coil transformation ratio is 1: n, the difference in the manner of voltage-type power synthesis and current-type power synthesis is as follows:

it should be noted that, the above-mentioned "coil transformation ratio 1: n ", which means that the ratio of the number of turns of the primary coil to the number of turns of the secondary coil of the transformer is 1: n; accordingly, as known to those skilled in the art based on the principle of a transformer, the ratio of the primary coil voltage to the secondary coil voltage is 1: and the current ratio of the main coil current to the auxiliary coil current is n:1.

Referring to fig. 1 (a), voltage-type power synthesis performs power synthesis by series voltage, assuming a load impedance R _L Based on ohm's law, it can be seen that R _L For a series circuit, vout=v1+v2+ … … +vk=kv 1, iout=i1=i2= … … =ik, as can be seen from the principle of differential transformers, vin=v1/2 n, iin=ni1; thus, the optimal load impedance of the power amplifier of each branch may be expressed as r=vin/iin=v1/2 n/ni1=vout/K/2 n/niout=r _L /2n ² k。

Let the load impedance R _L 50 Ω for a differential 2-way and coil transformation ratio of 1:2, the optimal load impedance r=r of the power amplifier of each branch _L The load conversion ratio is 16 times, i.e. the specific reference to the load conversion ratio can be regarded as 2n ² k。

Referring to fig. 1 (b), current-mode power synthesis performs power synthesis by series current, assuming a load impedance R _L Based on ohm's law, it can be seen that R _L For parallel circuits, vout=v1=v2= … … =vk, iout=iout, 1+iout,2+ … … +iout, k=kiout, 1, vin=v1/2 n, iin=nrout, 1, based on the principle of differential transformers; thus, the optimal load impedance of the power amplifier of each branch can be expressed as r=vin/iin=v1/2 n/nrout, 1=vout/2 n/n (Iout/k) =kr _L /2n ² 。

Let the load impedance R _L 50 Ω for a differential 2-way and coil transformation ratio of 1:2, each branchThe optimal load impedance r=r of the power amplifier of (a) _L The load conversion ratio is 4 times, i.e. the specific reference to the load change ratio can be regarded as 2n ² /k。

From the above analysis, it was found that the impedance transformation ratio of the voltage type power synthesis was higher than that of the current type power synthesis by performing the power synthesis under the same conditions.

In the 77GHz frequency band, the insertion loss of two separated transformers is about 1.5dB, and the layout area is relatively large.

Fig. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a radio frequency amplifying circuit provided in this embodiment, fig. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of a first distributed active transformer assembly provided in this embodiment including two-way transformer coil sets, fig. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of a first distributed active transformer assembly provided in this embodiment including four-way transformer coil sets, fig. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of a driving assembly provided in this embodiment, fig. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of an overall radio frequency amplifying circuit formed by fig. 3 and 5 provided in this embodiment, fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of an example driving switch attached to fig. 3 provided in this embodiment, fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of an example driving switch attached to fig. 4 provided in this embodiment, and the power amplifier provided in this embodiment is described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, specifically as follows:

referring to fig. 2 to 4, the radio frequency amplifying circuit is configured to synthesize and output a millimeter wave signal, and includes: a first distributed active transformer assembly 101 and a K-way drive assembly 102.

For the first distributed active transformer (distributed active transformer, DAT) assembly 101, hereinafter DAT1, DAT1 has K-way transformer coil sets arranged in a ring-shaped distributed manner, i.e. DAT1 is a differential K-way power combiner; the slave coil of the K-path transformer coil group is provided with an output end of millimeter wave signals, namely DAT1 is based on the structural arrangement of a voltage type power synthesizer, and has a larger impedance transformation ratio; each of the K transformer coil sets includes: and a differential transformer coil, wherein K is an integer greater than or equal to 2.

For a ring distributed arrangement, i.e. the K-way transformer coil set is distributed as a ring, in one example, since the transformer coil sets are differentially arranged transformer coils, i.e. the angle difference between the distributed transformer coil sets is 360/2K; for example, the angular difference between the two-way transformer coil sets is 90 °, and the angular difference between the four-way transformer coil sets is 45 °.

IN one example, assuming that the first distributed active transformer assembly 101 includes two transformer coil sets, referring to fig. 3, the differentially arranged primary windings Z1, Z2 constitute a differentially arranged transformer coil, the secondary windings C1 and Z1 constitute a transformer, the secondary windings C2 and Z2 constitute a transformer, i.e., the primary windings Z1, Z2, the secondary windings C1 and C2 constitute one transformer coil set, the input terminal of which is IN1; similarly, the main coil Z3 and the main coil Z4 which are arranged IN a differential way form a differential transformer coil, the secondary coil C3 and the main coil Z3 form a transformer, the secondary coil C4 and the main coil Z4 form a transformer, namely the main coil Z3, the main coil Z4, the secondary coil C3 and the secondary coil C4 form a path of transformer coil group, and the input end of the transformer coil group is IN2; from coils C1-C4 connected in series to synthesize and output millimeter wave signal RF out, wherein capacitor C _PAD For filtering to remove a portion of the interfering signal in the high output millimeter wave signal RF out.

IN one example, assuming that the first distributed active transformer assembly 101 includes a four-way transformer coil set, referring to fig. 4, the differentially arranged primary windings Z1, Z8 constitute a differentially arranged transformer winding, the secondary windings C1 and Z1 constitute a transformer, the secondary windings C8 and Z8 constitute a transformer, i.e., the primary windings Z1, Z8, the secondary windings C1 and C8 constitute a one-way transformer coil set, the input terminal of which is IN1; similarly, the main coil Z2 and the main coil Z3 which are arranged IN a differential way form a differential transformer coil, the secondary coil C2 and the main coil Z2 form a transformer, the secondary coil C3 and the main coil Z3 form a transformer, namely the main coil Z2, the main coil Z3, the secondary coil C2 and the secondary coil C3 form a path of transformer coil group, and the input end of the transformer coil group is IN2; similarly, the main coil Z4 and the main coil Z5 which are arranged in a differential way form a differential transformer coil, the secondary coil C4 and the main coil Z4 form a transformer, and the secondary coil C5 and the main coil Z5 formThe transformer is formed by a primary coil Z4, a primary coil Z5, a secondary coil C4 and a secondary coil C5, wherein the input end of the primary coil Z4, the secondary coil Z5 and the secondary coil C5 form a path of transformer coil group; similarly, the main coil Z6 and the main coil Z7 which are arranged IN a differential way form a differential transformer coil, the secondary coil C6 and the main coil Z6 form a transformer, the secondary coil C7 and the main coil Z7 form a transformer, namely the main coil Z6, the main coil Z7, the secondary coil C6 and the secondary coil C7 form a path of transformer coil group, and the input end of the transformer coil group is IN4; from coils C1-C8 connected in series to synthesize and output millimeter wave signal RF out, wherein capacitor C _PAD For filtering to remove a portion of the interfering signal in the millimeter wave signal RF out.

It should be noted that, the examples shown in fig. 3 and fig. 4 are only for illustrating the arrangement of the 2-way transformer coil set and the 4-way transformer coil set, and the number of the K-way transformer coil sets is not limited, and those skilled in the art can analogize to the arrangement of the transformer coil sets with other values according to the examples shown in fig. 3 and fig. 4, and any number of transformer coil sets should be included in the protection scope of the present disclosure as long as the arrangement logic is the same in the present embodiment.

Referring to fig. 2, for the driving assembly 102, the output terminals of the K-way driving assembly 102 are electrically connected to the input terminals of the K-way transformer coil set in a one-to-one correspondence.

Specifically, each of the K driving components 102 is configured to receive the differential control signal a and power amplify the differential control signal a to generate a differential amplified signal B; each of the transformer coil sets is configured to generate an initial output signal based on the differential amplified signal B, and the first distributed active transformer assembly 101 is configured to synthesize K initial output signals output by the K transformer coil sets, respectively, into the millimeter wave signal RF out.

Based on the above description, the radio frequency amplifying circuit formed by DAT is also a voltage synthesizer in nature, and the DAT structure realizes a high impedance transformation ratio, and meanwhile, the layout area is relatively small, and the insertion loss is low (generally about 0.7 dB).

In one example, referring to fig. 3, the coil transformation ratio of the first set of transformer coils is 1: n1, the coil transformation ratio of the second group of transformation coil groups is 1:N2; in a specific application, N1 and N2 may be set to different values, for example, n1=2, n2=4, or n1=3, n2=2, or n1=4, n2=4, etc., by setting the coil transformation ratios of different transformation coil groups to different values, the sub-power amplifiers in the power combiner have different optimal impedances, so that different sub-power amplifiers are suitable for different setting layout backgrounds, and are suitable for any scene.

It should be noted that, the specific values of the coil transformation ratios are not limited to the specific values of the embodiment, but the coil transformation ratios used for representing different transformer coil groups can be set to different parameters, and those skilled in the art can reasonably set the coil transformation ratios of different transformer coil groups based on the required optimal impedance.

In some embodiments, the coil transformation ratios of the transformation coils in the K-path transformation coil groups are the same, i.e. the coil transformation ratios of different transformation coil groups are all set to the same value, so as to reduce the setting cost of the radio frequency amplifying circuit.

In some embodiments, the drive assembly 102 includes: a power amplifier unit 120 and a driver unit 110.

The output end of the driver unit 110 and the input end of the power amplifier unit 120 are set based on differentially set transformer coils, and the output end of the power amplifier unit is connected with the input end of a corresponding transformer coil set; specifically, the driver unit 110 is configured to generate a differential drive signal based on the differential control signal a; the power amplifier unit 120 is configured to generate a differential amplified signal B based on the differential drive signal.

In one example, driver unit 110 and power amplifier unit 120 communicate differential control signals through coil inductive coupling. For example, in one specific manner of operation, the driver unit 110 includes: the output coil, the first MOS tube N1 and the second MOS tube N2. Specifically, the output coil includes: the first end, the second end and the center tap, wherein the center tap is equal to the distance between the first end and the center as the distance between the second end, and the center tap is used for receiving the power supply voltage VDD. The drain electrode of the first MOS tube N1 is connected with the first end of the output coil, and the source electrode of the first MOS tube N1 is grounded; the drain electrode of the second MOS tube N2 is connected with the second end of the output coil, and the source electrode of the second MOS tube N2 is grounded; the grid electrode of the first MOS tube N1 and the grid electrode of the second MOS tube N2 are used for receiving the differential control signal A, and when the first MOS tube N1 and the second MOS tube N2 are conducted based on the differential control signal A, the output coil generates a differential driving signal. In another specific operation mode, the first MOS transistor N1 and the second MOS transistor N2 may be directly implemented through a switching device.

In this example, the center tap of the coil is connected to the power supply voltage VDD to realize a differential coil based on the same coil; in other embodiments, two coils may be directly employed, and the connection terminals of the two coils are connected to the power supply voltage VDD to construct a differential coil.

The operating principle for the drive unit 110 is as follows: the differential control signal A is used as a differential signal and comprises a differential mode part A1 and a common mode part A2, when the first MOS tube N1 and the second MOS tube N2 are conducted, the common mode part A2 enables the conduction degree of the first MOS tube N1 and the second MOS tube N2 to be the same, the current is grounded through the first MOS tube N1 and the second MOS tube N2 respectively based on a center tap of an output coil, at the moment, the output directions of the currents in the differential coil formed by the output coils are opposite and the magnitudes are the same, and the generated magnetic fields are mutually offset; the first MOS transistor N1 and the second MOS transistor N2 that are turned on based on the differential mode portion A1 are turned on to different degrees, and the current is grounded through the first MOS transistor N1 or the second MOS transistor N2 based on the center tap of the output coil, and at this time, the output coil generates a magnetic field based on the differential mode portion A1 to drive the power amplifier unit 120.

Based on the above described operation, the power amplifier unit 120 includes: input coil, third MOS pipe N3 and fourth MOS pipe N4. Specifically, the input coil is based on a transformer coupled output coil, the input coil comprising a first end and a second end. The grid electrode of the third MOS tube N3 is connected with the first end of the input coil, and the source electrode is grounded; the grid electrode of the fourth MOS tube N4 is connected with the second end of the input coil, and the source electrode is grounded; the drain electrode of the third MOS tube N3 and the drain electrode of the fourth MOS tube are connected with the input ends of the corresponding transformer coil groups, when the input coils are connected with the third MOS tube N3 or the fourth MOS tube N4 based on the differential driving signals generated by the differential control signals A, the drain electrode of the third MOS tube N3 or the drain electrode of the fourth MOS tube N4 is used for outputting differential amplified signals B. In another specific operation mode, the third MOS transistor N3 and the fourth MOS transistor N4 may be directly implemented through a switching device.

The working principle for the power amplifier unit 120 is as follows: as can be seen from the foregoing description, the output coil generates a magnetic field based on the differential mode portion of the differential control signal a, the input coil couples the output coil based on the transformer, the input coil generates an induced voltage based on the magnetic field generated by the output coil, and one of the third MOS transistor N3 or the fourth MOS transistor N4 is induced in a single-voltage unidirectional single-pass manner, so that a path is generated between the power amplifier unit 120 and the first distributed transformer assembly 101.

Referring to fig. 6, fig. 6 is an overall circuit schematic diagram of the fig. 3 and 5 examples, a path is generated between the power amplifier unit 120 and the first distributed transformer assembly 101, when a current flows through the main coil through the power supply VDD connected to the main coil and then is grounded through the source of the third MOS transistor N3 or the source of the fourth MOS transistor N4, and when one of the differentially arranged transforming coils Z1 or Z2 has a current passing through it, a magnetic field is generated to drive the corresponding slave coil C1 or C2, thereby outputting an initial output signal.

In some embodiments, K driving switches are further provided in the first distributed active transformer component 101, each driving switch of the K driving switches corresponds to the transformer coil set one by one, and two ends of the driving switch are connected to differential input ends of the corresponding transformer coil set.

Referring to fig. 6 in combination with fig. 7 and 8, one end of the driving switch is connected to the drain of the third MOS transistor, and the other end is connected to the drain of the fourth MOS transistor, and the driving switch is configured to control whether to be currently in an on state or an off state based on an output control signal.

Referring specifically to fig. 7 and 8, the 1 st switch S1 is used for corresponding to the input terminal of the first transformer coil set, i.e. the output terminal of the corresponding power amplifier 120; similarly, the 2 nd switch S2 is used for corresponding to the input end of the second set of transforming coils, i.e. the output end of the corresponding power amplifier 120, and the 3 rd switch S3 is used for corresponding to the input end of the third set of transforming coils, i.e. the output end of the corresponding power amplifier 120; the 4 th switch S4 is used for the input terminal of the fourth transformer coil set, i.e. the output terminal of the corresponding power amplifier 120.

The following describes the action of the driving switch based on the 1 st switch S1 as an example, and those skilled in the art can understand the working principle of other switches based on this principle, and the description of this embodiment is omitted.

Specifically, when the 1 st switch S1 is turned off, i.e., there is no such path in the circuit, the circuit operation principle is not different from the above-described principle; when the 1 st switch S1 is closed, i.e. the drain electrode of the third MOS transistor N3 is connected with the drain electrode of the fourth MOS transistor N4, at this time, the second end of the main coil Z1 and the first end of the main coil Z2 are equal, the directions of the current generated based on the power supply voltage VDD flowing to the main coil Z1 and the main coil Z2 are opposite, and the current is offset at the 1 st switch S1, so that the induced currents generated from the coils C1 and C2 are offset, i.e. after the 1 st switch S1 is closed, the sub-power amplifier corresponding to the 1 st switch S1 is eliminated from the power synthesizer, so that the output power of the radio frequency amplifying circuit can be properly adjusted, and the millimeter wave signal with adjustable output power can be output.

In some specific applications, the driving switch can be realized based on the MOS tube, namely, the gate of the MOS tube receives an output control signal to control the on-off of the MOS tube so as to realize that the driving switch is in a current on state or a current off state; in some specific applications, the driving switch may also be directly formed by components such as a contact switch, for example, by controlling whether the switch contacts by a relay or the like, so as to realize that the driving switch is currently in an on state or is currently in an off state.

In addition, in some embodiments, if the driving switch is turned on, the driving component 102 corresponding to the driving switch may be turned off at this time, so as to achieve the purpose of reducing the power consumption of the circuit. In a specific application, the driving component 102 may be turned off by changing bias voltages of the first MOS transistor N1, the second MOS transistor N2, the third MOS transistor N3, and the fourth MOS transistor N4 to turn off the first MOS transistor N1, the second MOS transistor N2, the third MOS transistor N3, and the fourth MOS transistor N4.

It should be noted that the features disclosed in the rf amplifying circuit provided in the foregoing embodiments may be arbitrarily combined without collision, so as to obtain a new rf amplifying circuit embodiment.

Another embodiment of the present disclosure is also directed to providing a power divider for generating two sets of differential control signals.

Fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of a power divider provided in this embodiment, fig. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of a second distributed active transformer assembly provided in this embodiment, fig. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of a pre-driving assembly and a second distributed active transformer assembly provided in this embodiment, fig. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of a second distributed active transformer assembly provided in this embodiment and provided with a common mode voltage, fig. 14 is a schematic structural diagram of a bias assembly provided in this embodiment, and the power divider provided in this embodiment is described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, which is as follows:

referring to fig. 9 and 10, the power divider includes: a second distributed active transformer assembly 201 and a pre-drive assembly 202.

The pre-drive component 202 is configured to receive the differential pre-control signal D and generate the differential pre-drive signal C based on the differential pre-control signal D.

The second distributed active transformer assembly 201 includes: the main coil of the 2-way voltage-dividing coil group is used for receiving a differential pre-control signal D, the slave coil is provided with an output end of the differential control signal, and each of the 2-way voltage-dividing coil groups comprises: and a differential voltage dividing coil.

Specifically, a second distributed active transformer assembly includes: a first main coil Z01, a second main coil Z02, a third main coil Z03, a fourth main coil Z04, a first secondary coil C01, a second secondary coil C02, a third secondary coil C03, and a fourth secondary coil C04; the first main coil Z01 and the fourth main coil Z04 form a 1-path voltage-dividing coil group, and the second main coil Z02 and the third main coil Z03 form a 1-path voltage-dividing coil group.

The second end of the first main coil Z01 is connected with the first end of the second main coil Z02, the second end of the second main coil Z02 and the first end of the third main coil Z03 are used for receiving a power supply voltage VDD, the second end of the third main coil Z03 is connected with the first end of the fourth main coil Z04, and the first end of the first main coil Z01 and the second end of the fourth main coil Z04 are used for receiving a differential pre-driving signal C.

The first slave coil C01 is coupled with the first main coil Z01, the second slave coil C02 is coupled with the second main coil Z02, the third slave coil C03 is coupled with the third main coil Z03, and the fourth slave coil C04 is coupled with the fourth main coil Z04. The first end of the first slave coil C01 is connected to the second end of the fourth slave coil C04, the second end of the second slave coil C02 is connected to the first end of the third slave coil C03, the first end of the first slave coil C01 and the second end of the second slave coil C02 are used for providing one set of differential control signals a, and the second end of the third slave coil C03 and the first end of the fourth slave coil C04 are used for providing another set of differential control signals a.

The power divider formed by DAT is essentially used as a reverse voltage synthesizer, two paths of identical differential pre-control signals C are obtained by the received differential pre-control signals C, so that multi-circuit control is realized, the power divider is suitable for the radio frequency amplifying circuit provided by the embodiment, and the DAT structure is relatively small in layout area and low in insertion loss while realizing high impedance transformation ratio.

In some embodiments, the coil transformation ratio of the first primary coil Z01 and the first secondary coil C01 is 1: n01, the coil conversion ratio of the second main coil Z02 and the second sub-coil C02 is 1: the coil conversion ratio of the third main coil Z03 and the third sub-coil C03 is 1: the coil conversion ratio of the fourth main coil Z04 and the fourth sub-coil C04 is 1: n04; wherein N01, N02, N03 and N04 may be the same value or may be different values. When N01, N02, N03 and N04 are set to different values, the power of the two sets of differential control signals a output by the power divider is different, that is, the power of the differential control signal a output by the power divider is controllable by reasonably setting different coil transformation ratios.

In some embodiments, referring to fig. 11, the pre-drive assembly 202 includes: a fifth MOS tube N5 and a sixth MOS tube N6, wherein the source electrode of the fifth MOS tube N5 is grounded, and the drain electrode is connected with the first end of the first main coil Z01; the source electrode of the sixth MOS tube N6 is grounded, and the drain electrode is connected with the second end of the fourth main coil Z04; the gate of the fifth MOS transistor N5 and the gate of the sixth MOS transistor N6 are configured to receive the differential pre-control signal D, and when the sixth MOS transistor N6 of the fifth MOS transistor N5 is turned on based on the differential pre-control signal D, a differential pre-driving signal C is provided to the first main winding Z01 and the fourth main winding Z04.

The working principle for the pre-drive unit 202 is as follows: when the fifth MOS transistor N5 and the sixth MOS transistor N6 are turned on based on the differential pre-control signal D, the current is grounded through the second main coil Z02, the first main coil Z01, and the fifth MOS transistor N5, respectively, based on the power supply voltage VDD, and grounded through the third main coil Z03, the fourth main coil Z04, and the sixth MOS transistor Z04, so that the first main coil Z01, the second main coil Z02, the third main coil Z03, and the fourth main coil Z04 generate magnetic fields, and the first slave coil C01, the second slave coil C02, the third slave coil C03, and the fourth slave coil C04 generate induced currents based on the magnetic fields generated by the main coils, thereby outputting the differential control signal a.

In some embodiments, referring to fig. 12, the first end of the first slave coil C01 and the second end of the second slave coil C02 are also configured to receive the same common mode voltage VB; specifically, a DC common mode voltage is provided for the secondary coil of the power divider so as to meet the requirement that a stable bias voltage can be provided on the left side and the right side (C01 and C02, C03 and C04), so that the inconsistency of the signal amplitude and the phase of two paths of differential signals in the output differential control signal A is reduced.

In some embodiments, the same signal transmission line providing the same set of differential control signals a is the same length to satisfy the consistency of the signal amplitude and signal phase of the output differential control signals a.

In some embodiments, the power divider further comprises a biasing component for removing the common mode signal in the differential pre-control signal D. In one example, referring to fig. 14, the biasing assembly 301 includes: the MOS transistor comprises a current modulator, a seventh MOS transistor N7, a bias resistor R, a bypass resistor Rf and a bypass capacitor Cf. The current modulator is configured to adjust a magnitude of the output current based on the magnitude of the input current; in some specific applications, the modulation amplitude of the added current modulator is k, the magnitude of the input current is I, and the magnitude of the current output by the current modulator is kI, for example, 0.25I, 0.5I, 2I, or 4I, etc. The drain electrode of the seventh MOS tube N7 is connected with the grid electrode and the output end of the current modulator, and the source electrode is grounded; one end of the bias resistor R is connected with the grid electrode of the seventh MOS tube N7, and the other end is connected with the grid electrode of the fifth MOS tube N5 or the grid electrode of the sixth MOS tube N6; specifically, if the bias component 301 is connected to the gate of the fifth MOS transistor N5, the bias component 301 is configured to remove the common mode signal in the differential pre-control signal D received by the fifth MOS transistor N5, and if the bias component 301 is connected to the gate of the sixth MOS transistor N6, the bias component 301 is configured to remove the common mode signal in the differential pre-control signal D received by the sixth MOS transistor N6. One end of the bypass resistor Rf is connected with the grid electrode of the fifth MOS tube N5 or the sixth MOS tube N6, the other end of the bypass resistor Rf is connected with one end of the bypass capacitor Cf, and the other end of the bypass capacitor Cf is grounded.

It should be noted that, in some embodiments, the bias component may also be used in the power amplifier mentioned in the above embodiments to remove common-mode signals for the first MOS transistor N1, the second MOS transistor N2, the third MOS transistor N3, and the fourth MOS transistor N4, and those skilled in the art may perform principle substitution based on the above description, which is not repeated in this embodiment.

It is readily apparent that this embodiment can be implemented in conjunction with the power amplifier provided in the previous embodiment. The related technical details mentioned in the previous embodiment are still valid in this embodiment, and in order to reduce repetition, they are not repeated here.

Still another embodiment of the present disclosure provides a power amplifying circuit including a radio frequency amplifying circuit and a power dividing circuit.

Fig. 13 is a schematic structural diagram of the millimeter wave generating circuit configured in fig. 12 and fig. 6 provided in this embodiment, and the power amplifying circuit provided in this embodiment is described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings, specifically as follows:

referring to fig. 13, a power dividing circuit is formed based on the power divider provided in the above embodiment to output two differential control signals a based on the differential pre-control signal D; the radio frequency amplifying circuit is configured to power amplify the two paths of differential control signals A and synthesize and output millimeter wave signals.

In one example, the radio frequency amplifying circuit may be formed based on the radio frequency amplifying circuit provided in the above embodiment. That is, the radio frequency amplifying circuit for synthesizing and outputting the millimeter wave signal includes: a first distributed active transformer assembly 101 and a K-way drive assembly 102. That is, the power divider and the radio frequency amplifying circuit provided in the above embodiment are combined to form a completed millimeter wave generating circuit, and the millimeter wave generating circuit generates a high-power millimeter wave signal RF out based on the differential pre-control signal D, and the specific details are not described in detail in this embodiment.

Yet another embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a multi-stage power divider for generating multiple sets of differential control signals.

Fig. 15 is a schematic structural diagram of a multi-stage power divider according to the present embodiment, and the multi-stage power divider according to the present embodiment is described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings, specifically as follows:

referring to fig. 15, in particular, the multi-stage power divider includes M-stage power dividing circuits 401, each of the M-stage power dividing circuits 401 being based on the power divider arrangement mentioned in the above embodiment; wherein the number of the i-th stage power dividing circuits 401 is 2 ^i-1 I is any integer greater than or equal to 1 and less than or equal to M; the input end of the first stage power dividing circuit 401 is used for receiving differential pre-control signals, the input ends of the 2 ith stage power dividing circuits 401 are respectively connected with two groups of output ends of the ith-1 th stage power dividing circuit 401, and the output end of the Mth stage power dividing circuit 401 is used for outputting differential control signals.

As for the number of the i-th stage power dividing circuits 401, it is conceivable that the first stage power dividing circuits 401 need to receive differential pre-control signals, that is, the number of the first stage power dividing circuits 401 is 1, the first stage power dividing circuits 401 generate two sets of differential control signals, and the differential control signals serve as the differential pre-control signals of the second stage power dividing circuits 401, so that the number of the second stage power dividing circuits 401 is 2; similarly, the number of third-stage power dividing circuits 401 is 4 … … and the number of i-th-stage power dividing circuits 401 is 2 ^i-1 。

According to the multi-stage power divider provided by the embodiment, the power dividers are cascaded to provide a plurality of groups of differential control signals based on the same differential pre-control signal, so that more sub-power amplifiers can be arranged in the radio frequency amplifying circuit corresponding to the radio frequency amplifying circuit mentioned in the embodiment, and the power of the output millimeter wave signal is further improved.

It is not difficult to find that this embodiment can be implemented in cooperation with the power divider provided in the previous embodiment. The related technical details mentioned in the previous embodiment are still valid in this embodiment, and in order to reduce repetition, they are not repeated here.

Yet another embodiment of the present disclosure is also directed to a distributed active transformer structure for forming the first distributed active transformer assembly mentioned in the above embodiments.

Fig. 16 is a schematic structural view of a distributed active transformer structure including two-way transformer coil sets provided in this embodiment, fig. 17 is a schematic structural view of a distributed active transformer structure including two-way transformer coil sets of a power supply layout provided in this embodiment, fig. 18 to 20 are schematic structural views of a distributed active transformer structure including four-way transformer coil sets provided in this embodiment, fig. 21 is a schematic structural view of a distributed active transformer structure including four-way transformer coil sets of a power supply layout provided in this embodiment, and the distributed active transformer structure provided in this embodiment is described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, specifically as follows:

referring to fig. 16, the distributed active transformer structure includes: a first layout layer and a second layout layer.

The first layout layer, as shown in fig. 16 (a), forms the primary windings of the K-way transformer coil set in the first distributed active transformer assembly. The main coils of the K-path transformer coil set may refer to paths formed by the main coils Z1, Z2, Z3 and Z4 in fig. 3. The first layout layer is provided with K paths of differential input ends, and each path of differential input end in the K paths of differential input ends correspondingly receives one path of differential amplified signals.

The second layout layer, as shown in fig. 16 (b), is formed with the secondary coils of the K-way transformer coil group. The secondary coils of the K-path transformer coil set can refer to paths formed by the secondary coil C1, the secondary coil C2, the secondary coil C3 and the secondary coil C4 in fig. 3. The second layout layer is provided with a first output end and a second output end, the first output end is grounded, and the second output end is used for outputting millimeter wave signals.

The main coil and the slave coil are inductively coupled, and the second layout layer and the first layout layer are different metal layers.

In some embodiments, the second layout layer is located on top of the first layout layer; in one example, the second layout layer may be adjacently disposed on top of the first layout layer, for example, for a multi-layout layer structure, the first layout layer is assumed to be a first layer structure from bottom to top, the second layout layer is assumed to be a second layer structure, the first layout layer is assumed to be a fifth layer structure, and the second layout layer is assumed to be a sixth layer structure; in one example, the second layout layer may be disposed at intervals on top of the first layout layer, for example, for a multi-layout layer structure, it is assumed that the first layout layer is a first layer structure from bottom to top, and the second layout layer may be a third layer structure, a fourth layer structure, and the like, disposed above the first layout layer at intervals.

For the first layout layer, in some embodiments, the first layout layer includes K sections of main coupling lines arranged in a ring shape, wherein the K sections of main coupling lines are divided into 1 st main coupling line to K th main coupling line according to sequence numbers, and main coupling lines with adjacent numbers are arranged adjacently. Each of the K sections of main coupling lines comprises a first coil, a first extension metal wire and a second extension metal wire; wherein, the first coil: the device comprises a center tap, a first end, a second end, a center tap, a first end of a first center tap interval and a second end of a second center tap interval, wherein the center tap is used for receiving power supply voltage, one end of a first extension metal wire is connected with the first end of a first coil, the other end of the first extension metal wire is used as a first contact point of a main coupling wire, one end of a second extension metal wire is connected with the second end of the first coil, the other end of the second extension metal wire is used as a second contact point of the main coupling wire, and the first contact point of the main coupling wire and the second contact point of an adjacent main coupling wire are used for receiving one path of differential amplification signals B.

For the second layout layer, in some embodiments, the second layout layer includes: the ring-shaped secondary coupling lines are provided with breakpoints, and the first output end and the second output end are formed based on the breakpoints.

Referring to fig. 16 (a), for a distributed active transformer assembly having a two-way transformer coil assembly, a first layout layer includes a 1 st primary coupled line and a 2 nd primary coupled line; wherein a first contact point of the 1 st main coupling line is used for receiving B1+, and a second contact point of the 2 nd main coupling line is used for receiving B1-, wherein B1+ and B1-are differential signals of the differential amplified signal B1; in addition, the second contact point of the 1 st main coupling line is used for receiving B2-, and the first extrusion point of the 2 nd main coupling line is used for receiving b2+, wherein b2+ and B2-are differential signals of the differential amplified signal B2.

For the 1 st main coupling line, a center tap of a first coil is connected with a power supply voltage VDD1, and a line group formed by the center tap of the first coil and a first end and a line group formed by the center tap of the first coil and a second end are mutually opposite-phase coils; in some embodiments, the first coil may be directly configured as two anti-phase coils. Similarly, for the 2 nd main coupling line, the center tap of the first coil is connected with the power supply voltage VDD2, and the line group formed by the center tap of the first coil and the first end and the line group formed by the center tap of the first coil and the second end are mutually opposite-phase coils.

Referring to fig. 16 (b), for the slave coupled line, the first output terminal OUT1 and the second output terminal OUT2 are configured based on the breakpoint position of the slave coupled line, the first output terminal OUT1 is grounded GND, and the second output terminal OUT2 is used to output the millimeter wave signal RF OUT in conjunction with the example of fig. 3.

Referring to fig. 18, for a distributed active transformer assembly having a four-way transformer coil assembly, a first layout layer includes a 1 st main coupling line, a 2 nd main coupling line, a 3 rd main coupling line, and a 4 th main coupling line; wherein a first contact point of the 1 st main coupling line is used for receiving B1+, and a second contact point of the 2 nd main coupling line is used for receiving B1-, wherein B1+ and B1-are differential signals of the differential amplified signal B1; the second contact of the 1 st main coupling line is used for receiving B2-, and the first contact of the 4 th main coupling line is used for receiving B2+, wherein B2+ and B2-are used as differential signals of the differential amplified signal B2; the first contact of the 4 th main coupling line is for receiving B3-, the first contact of the 3 rd main coupling line is for receiving b3+, wherein b3+ and B3-are differential signals of the differential amplified signal B3; the second contact of the 3 rd main coupling line is for receiving B4-, and the first contact of the 4 th main coupling line is for receiving b4+, wherein b4+ and B4-are differential signals of the differential amplified signal B4.

For the 1 st main coupling line, a center tap of a first coil is connected with a power supply voltage VDD1, and a line group formed by the center tap of the first coil and a first end and a line group formed by the center tap of the first coil and a second end are mutually opposite-phase coils; similarly, for the 2 nd main coupling line, the center tap of the first coil is connected with the power supply voltage VDD2, and the line group formed by the center tap of the first coil and the first end and the line group formed by the center tap of the first coil and the second end are mutually opposite-phase coils; for the 3 rd main coupling line, the center tap of the first coil is connected with the power supply voltage VDD3, and a line group formed by the center tap of the first coil and the first end and a line group formed by the center tap of the first coil and the second end are mutually opposite-phase coils; for the 4 th main coupling line, the center tap of the first coil is connected with the power supply voltage VDD4, and the line group formed by the center tap of the first coil and the first end and the line group formed by the center tap of the first coil and the second end are mutually opposite-phase coils.

Referring to fig. 19, for the slave coupled line, the first output terminal OUT1 and the second output terminal OUT2 are configured based on the breakpoint position of the slave coupled line, and the first output terminal OUT1 is grounded GND and the second output terminal OUT2 is used to output the millimeter wave signal RF OUT in conjunction with the example of fig. 3.

In some embodiments, referring to fig. 17 (c) and 20, in a direction perpendicular to the first layout layer and the second layout layer, the projection of the slave coupled line covers the projection of the K-segment main coupled line to reduce a distance between the slave coupled line and the K-segment main coupled line, and the coupling improves a coupling effect of the transformer coil set.

In the specific application, in the direction perpendicular to the first layout layer and the second layout layer, the projection of the secondary coupling line can partially cover or not cover the projection of the K sections of primary coupling lines, and only the primary coil structure and the secondary coil structure of the formed K-path transformer coil group are ensured to be inductively coupled.

Referring to fig. 17 (a), 17 (c) and 21, in some embodiments, the first layout layer further includes a power layout annularly disposed around the periphery of the K-segment primary coupled lines to simultaneously power the K-segment primary coupled lines.

In some embodiments, referring to fig. 16, the width of the k segments of the primary and secondary coupled lines is set to 12um.

In some embodiments, the first layout layer and the second layout layer are located in a package structure of the chip. On the one hand, the chip size can be reduced as a whole, and the electromagnetic interference of the radio frequency amplifying circuit to the low-frequency circuit at the bottom layer of the chip can be reduced.

In some embodiments, the first output point and the second output point are provided as contact nodes of the encapsulation layer. I.e. by contacting the node or by contacting the node with an external wire.

In some embodiments, the output point of the differential amplification signal B may be used as a contact node of the packaging layer, and the first output point and the second output point for outputting the millimeter wave signal are used as contact nodes of another packaging layer, that is, the distributed active transformer structure is separately disposed in one packaging structure, and the millimeter wave signal RF out is output by means of the contact node or the contact node and the external connection wire.

It is not difficult to find that this embodiment is a layout embodiment corresponding to the above embodiment, and this embodiment may be an embodiment that cooperates with the power amplifier provided in the above embodiment. The related technical details mentioned in the above embodiments are still valid in this embodiment, and are not repeated here for reducing repetition.

Yet another embodiment of the present disclosure is also directed to a distributed active transformer structure for forming the second distributed active transformer assembly mentioned in the above embodiments.

Fig. 22 is a schematic structural diagram of a distributed active transformer structure provided in this embodiment, fig. 23 is a schematic structural diagram of a distributed active transformer structure provided in this embodiment, in which the common mode voltage is the same from a coil structure, fig. 24 is a schematic structural diagram of layout of several first transmission metal lines and second transmission metal lines provided in this embodiment, and the detailed description of the distributed active transformer structure provided in this embodiment is as follows with reference to the accompanying drawings:

referring to fig. 22, the distributed active transformer structure includes: a third layout layer and a fourth layout layer.

A third layout layer, fig. 22 (a), is formed with the primary coil structure in the second distributed active transformer assembly. The main coil structure in the second distributed active transformer assembly may refer to a path formed by the first main coil Z01, the second main coil Z02, the third main coil Z03, and the fourth main coil Z04 in fig. 11. The third layout layer is provided with a first input end and a second input end, and the first input end and the second input end are used for outputting one path of differential amplification signals.

A fourth layout layer, fig. 22 (b), is formed with the secondary coil structure in the second distributed active transformer assembly. The secondary coil structure in the second distributed active transformer assembly may refer to the path formed by the first secondary coil C01 and the fourth secondary coil C04 and the path formed by the second secondary coil C02 and the third secondary coil C03 in fig. 11. The fourth layout layer is provided with 2 paths of differential output ends, and each path of differential output end in the 2 paths of differential output ends correspondingly outputs one path of differential amplified signals.

The main coil structure is inductively coupled with the secondary coil structure, and the third layout layer and the fourth layout layer are positioned on different metal layers.

In some embodiments, the third layout layer is located at the bottom of the fourth layout layer; in one example, the fourth layout layer may be adjacently disposed at the bottom of the third layout layer, for example, for a multi-layout layer structure, the third layout layer is assumed to be a first layer structure from bottom to top, the fourth layout layer is assumed to be a second layer structure, the third layout layer is assumed to be a fifth layer structure, and the fourth layout layer is assumed to be a sixth layer structure; in one example, the third layout layer may be disposed at intervals at the bottom of the fourth layout layer, for example, for a multi-layout layer structure, it is assumed that the third layout layer is a first layer structure from bottom to top, and the fourth layout layer may be a third layer structure, a fourth layer structure, or the like, disposed above the third layout layer at intervals.

In some embodiments, the third layout layer is located on the same layout layer as the first layout layer mentioned in the previous embodiment, and the fourth layout layer is located on the same layout layer as the second layout layer mentioned in the previous embodiment. In some embodiments, the third layout layer is separated from the first layout layer by m layers, and the fourth layout layer is also separated from the second layout layer by m layers.

For the fourth layout layer, in some embodiments, the fourth layout layer includes a semi-annular first metal portion and a second metal portion that are symmetrically disposed, the first metal portion includes a first slave coil, a first connection line, and a fourth slave coil that are sequentially connected, the second metal portion includes a second slave coil, a second connection line, and a third slave coil that are sequentially connected, wherein the first slave coil and the second slave coil are symmetrically disposed, the third slave coil and the fourth slave coil are symmetrically disposed, and the first connection line and the second connection line are symmetrically disposed.

Referring to fig. 22 (b), a first end of the first metal part is used to output a1+, and a second end of the second metal part is used to output a1-, a1+ and A1-as two-way differential signals of the differential control signal A1; in addition, the second end of the first metal part is used for outputting A2-, and the first end of the second metal part is used for outputting A2 < + >, A2 < + > and A2 < - >, which are two paths of differential signals of the differential control signal A2.

For the third layout layer, in some embodiments, the third layout layer includes annularly arranged slave coupled lines having break points therein, and the first and second inputs are coupled based on the break points for receiving the differential pre-drive signal C.

Referring to fig. 22 (a), the first and second input points are divided into two paths for receiving c1+ and C1-, and c1+ and C1-as differential pre-driving signals C1, a power supply node for receiving a power supply voltage VDD is further included in the coupling line, and the power supply node and the breakpoint are symmetrically arranged based on a circular center such that the coils arranged in the coupling line constitute a differential coil.

In some embodiments, referring to fig. 22 (c) and 23 (c), in an arrangement direction perpendicular to the third layout layer and the fourth layout layer, projections of the first metal portion and the second metal portion are covered from projections of the coupling line to reduce a distance between the coupling line and the first metal portion and the second metal portion, and to improve a coupling effect of the transformer in the power divider.

In some embodiments, referring to fig. 23 (b), the fourth layout layer further includes power contact metal lines connecting the first and second connection lines and for receiving a common mode voltage VB to provide the same bias voltage to the first, second, third and fourth slave coils.

In some embodiments, the distributed active transformer structure further comprises: the transmission metal line group comprises a first transmission metal line and a second transmission metal line, wherein the first transmission metal line and the second transmission metal line are used for transmitting the differential control signal A, the transmission metal line group is partially arranged on the third layout layer and partially arranged on the fourth layer, and the length of the first transmission metal line is equal to that of the second transmission metal line.

Referring to fig. 24, fig. 24 shows three layouts of the first and second transmission metal lines such that the length of the first transmission metal line is equal to the length of the second transmission metal line; it should be noted that, the example of the first transmission metal line and the second transmission metal line in fig. 24 is not limited to this embodiment, and is only used to represent the layout manner of the first transmission metal line and the second transmission metal line, and in a specific application, the first transmission metal line and the second transmission metal line may be set at will, so as to ensure that the length of the first transmission metal line is equal to the length of the second transmission metal line.

It is not difficult to find that the present embodiment is a layout embodiment corresponding to the above embodiment, and the present embodiment may be an embodiment that cooperates with the power divider provided in the above embodiment. The related technical details mentioned in the above embodiments are still valid in this embodiment, and are not repeated here for reducing repetition.

A further embodiment of the present disclosure provides a radar apparatus, where the radar apparatus includes a radar chip, the radio frequency amplifying circuit provided in the foregoing embodiment is integrally provided in the radar chip, or the power divider provided in the foregoing embodiment is integrally provided in the radar chip, or the multi-stage power divider provided in the foregoing embodiment is integrally provided in the radar chip; the embodiment provides a radar device which is at least used for reducing the layout area occupied by a circuit.

In some embodiments, a radar chip includes: the signal generator, the local oscillation circuit and the power amplifying circuit are connected in sequence; the power amplifying circuit comprises a radio frequency amplifying circuit, a power divider or a multi-stage power divider.

Specifically, a radar chip is a kind of detection device that is constructed based on a doppler effect formed between electromagnetic waves and velocity to convert a physical quantity in a physical space into an electric signal.

The radar chip includes a transmitter, a receiver, an analog-to-digital converter, and digital circuitry. The transmitter comprises a signal generator, a local oscillation circuit, a power amplifying circuit, a transmitting antenna and the like. The receiver includes: a receiving Antenna (Antenna), a Mixer (Mixer), an analog-to-digital converter (ADC), and the like. The signal generator generates a signal with continuous frequency change and outputs the signal to the local oscillation circuit to form an LO signal of a transmitting frequency band; the power amplifying circuit can drive and amplify the LO signal, even form a chirp signal by phase control adjustment and convert the chirp signal into electromagnetic waves through the transmitting antenna. The electromagnetic wave is reflected by an object to form an echo, the receiving antenna converts the echo into an echo signal, and the mixer down-converts the echo signal into an intermediate frequency signal by using an LO signal; the analog-to-digital converter converts the intermediate frequency signal into a digital signal. The digital signal corresponding to each chirp output from the analog-to-digital converter is also called a digital sequence.

It will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that the foregoing embodiments are specific examples of implementing the present application and that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present application.

Claims

1. A radio frequency amplifying circuit for synthesizing and outputting a millimeter wave signal, comprising:

the first distributed active transformer subassembly has the K way vary voltage coil group that is annular distributed setting, K way vary voltage coil group from the coil have millimeter wave signal's output, just each way vary voltage coil group in the K way vary voltage coil group includes: a differential transformer coil; wherein K is an integer greater than or equal to 2;

the output ends of the K driving components are electrically connected with the input ends of the K transformer coil groups in a one-to-one correspondence manner, wherein each driving component in the K driving components is configured to receive a differential control signal and amplify the power of the differential control signal to generate a differential amplified signal;

each path of transformation coil set is configured to generate an initial output signal based on the differential amplification signal;

the first distributed active transformer assembly is configured to synthesize the millimeter wave signals from K initial output signals output by the K-way transformer coil assembly.

2. The radio frequency amplification circuit of claim 1, wherein the transformation ratio of the transformation coil is 1: ni, wherein Ni is any real number, and i is used for indicating the corresponding transformer coil group.

3. The radio frequency amplification circuit of claim 1, wherein the coil transformation ratio of each transformer coil in the K transformer coil sets is the same.

4. The radio frequency amplification circuit of claim 1, wherein each of the K-way drive assemblies comprises:

a power amplifier unit and a driver unit; the output end of the driver unit and the input end of the power amplifier unit are arranged based on differentially arranged variable-voltage coils, and the output end of the power amplifier unit is connected with the input end of the corresponding variable-voltage coil group;

the driver unit is configured to generate a differential drive signal based on a differential control signal;

the power amplifier unit is configured to generate the differential amplified signal based on the differential drive signal.

5. The radio frequency amplification circuit of claim 4, wherein the driver unit and the power amplifier unit communicate the differential control signal via coil inductive coupling.

6. The radio frequency amplification circuit of claim 5, comprising:

the driver unit includes:

an output coil comprising: the power supply device comprises a first end, a second end and a center tap, wherein the distance between the center tap and the first end is equal to the distance between the center tap and the second end, and the center tap is used for receiving power supply voltage;

The drain electrode of the first MOS tube is connected with the first end of the output coil, and the source electrode of the first MOS tube is grounded;

the drain electrode of the second MOS tube is connected with the second end of the output coil, and the source electrode of the second MOS tube is grounded;

the grid electrode of the first MOS tube and the grid electrode of the second MOS tube are used for receiving the differential control signals, and when the first MOS tube and the second MOS tube are conducted based on the differential control signals, the output coil generates the differential driving signals;

the power amplifier unit includes:

an input coil coupled to the output coil based on a transformer, comprising: a first end and a second end;

the grid electrode of the third MOS tube is connected with the first end of the input coil, and the source electrode of the third MOS tube is grounded;

a grid electrode of the fourth MOS tube is connected with the second end of the input coil, and a source electrode of the fourth MOS tube is grounded;

the drain electrode of the third MOS tube and the drain electrode of the fourth MOS tube are connected with the input ends of the corresponding voltage transformation coil groups, and when the input coils are conducted by the third MOS tube or the fourth MOS tube based on differential driving signals generated by the differential control signals, the drain electrode of the third MOS tube or the drain electrode of the fourth MOS tube is used for outputting the differential amplification signals.

7. The radio frequency amplification circuit of claim 1, wherein K driving switches are further disposed in the first distributed active transformer assembly, each of the K driving switches corresponds to the transformer coil assembly one by one, and two ends of the driving switch are connected to differential input ends of the corresponding transformer coil assembly.

8. A distributed active transformer structure for forming the first distributed active transformer assembly of any one of claims 1-7, comprising:

the first layout layer is provided with main coils of K paths of transformer coil groups in the first distributed active transformer component;

the second layout layer is provided with slave coils of the K-path transformer coil group;

the main coil and the auxiliary coil are inductively coupled, and the second layout layer and the first layout layer are different metal layers;

the first layout layer comprises K paths of differential input ends, and each path of differential input end in the K paths of differential input ends correspondingly receives one path of differential amplified signals;

the second layout layer comprises a first output end and a second output end, the first output end is grounded, and the second output end is used for outputting millimeter wave signals.

9. The distributed active transformer structure of claim 8, comprising:

the first layout layer comprises: k sections of main coupling lines which are annularly arranged;

each of the K sections of primary coupled lines includes: a first coil, a first extension metal wire, and a second extension metal wire;

The first coil includes: the center tap is used for receiving a power supply voltage;

one end of the first extension metal wire is connected with the first end of the first coil, and the other end of the first extension metal wire is used as a first contact point of the main coupling wire; one end of the second extension metal wire is connected with the second end of the first coil, and the other end of the second extension metal wire is used as a second contact point of the main coupling wire; the first contact point of the main coupling line and the second contact point of the adjacent main coupling line are used for receiving one path of differential amplification signal;

the second layout layer comprises: the ring-shaped secondary coupling lines are provided with breakpoints, and the first output end and the second output end are formed based on the breakpoints.

10. The distributed active transformer structure of claim 8, wherein the projection of the slave coupled line overlaps the projection of the K-segment master coupled line in a direction perpendicular to the first layout layer and the second layout layer.

11. The distributed active transformer structure of claim 8, wherein the first layout layer and the second layout layer are located in a package structure of a chip.

12. The distributed active transformer structure of claim 11, wherein the first output and the second output are disposed as contact nodes of an encapsulation layer.

13. A radar apparatus, characterized in that the radar apparatus comprises a radar chip in which the radio frequency amplifying circuit of any one of claims 1 to 6 is integrally provided.

14. The radar apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the radar chip includes: the signal generator, the local oscillation circuit and the power amplifying circuit are connected in sequence; wherein the power amplification circuit comprises the radio frequency amplification circuit.

15. The radar apparatus according to claim 13, characterized by further comprising: and the transmitting antenna in the antenna array is connected with the output end of the radio frequency amplifying circuit so as to radiate the millimeter wave signals into free space.