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IEEE MICROWAVE AND WIRELESS COMPONENTS LETTERS 1
High-Isolation Multimode Multifunction
24-/60-GHz CMOS Dual-Bandpass
Filtering T/R Switch
Youngman Um , Student Member, IEEE, and Cam Nguyen , Fellow, IEEE
Abstract— Fully integrated 24-/60-GHz dual-band transmit/
receive (T/R) switch capable of bandpass filtering and switching
operations in single bands and concurrent dual band, coupled
with simultaneous transmission and reception, is developed using
a 0.18-μm SiGe BiCMOS process. The developed bandpass
filtering switch can also function as a diplexer with switching
functions. The measured insertion losses of the T/R switch are
2.9 and 8.7 dB at 24 and 60 GHz in single-band modes and
3/8.8 dB at 24/60 GHz in concurrent dual-band mode, respec-
tively. The measured isolations are 53 and 43 dB at 24 and 60 GHz
in single-band modes and 50/57 dB at 24/60 GHz in concurrent
dual-band mode, respectively. The measured inputs P
1-dB
are
20.6 and 16.4 dBm at 24 and 60 GHz in single-band modes
and 15.9/13 dBm at 24/60 GHz in concurrent dual-band mode,
respectively. The measured inputs IP
3
are 23.2 and 22.5 dBm at
24 and 60 GHz in corresponding single-band modes, respectively.
The total chip size is 1480 μm × 520 μm excluding all the RF
and dc pads.
Index Terms— Bandpass filter (BPF), BiCMOS, CMOS,
diplexer, dual-band circuit, radio frequency integrated circuit,
SPST switch, transmit/receive (T/R) switch.
I. I NTRODUCTION
T
RANSMIT/RECEIVE (T/R) switches are used often in
RF transceivers. Furthermore, in RF transceivers, exter-
nal bandpass filters (BPFs) are normally used together with
T/R switches to reduce undesired out-of-band signals. These
separate BPFs increase the size and cost of the overall system.
A more effective approach is to integrate the bandpass filtering
function into switches to make a dual function (switching
and filtering) simultaneously. While numerous single-band
silicon-based radio frequency integrated-circuit switches have
been developed at microwave and millimeter-wave frequen-
cies, e.g., [1]–[4], few dual-band CMOS single-pole double-
throw and T/R switches, particularly those with integrated
bandpass filtering function and concurrent operation, have
been reported to date in spite of their importance in multiband
RF systems [5]. Multiband RF systems working over multiple
bands provide significant advantages in terms of cost, size,
operation, versatility, and performance as compared to their
single-band counterparts.
Manuscript received March 29, 2018; revised May 8, 2018; accepted
June 1, 2018. This work was supported by NPRP through the Qatar National
Research Fund (a member of Qatar Foundation) under Grant 6-241-2-102.
(Corresponding author: Youngman Um.)
The authors are with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineer-
ing, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-3128 USA (e-mail:
youngman.um@tamu.edu; cam@ece.tamu.edu).
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available
online at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/LMWC.2018.2847022
Fig. 1. (a) Schematic of the 24-/60-GHz dual-bandpass filtering T/R switch.
(b) 24-GHz TX/RX concurrent mode. (c) 60-GHz TX/RX concurrent mode.
(d) 24-GHz RX and 60-GHz TX concurrent modes.
In this letter, we report the development of new 0.18-μm
CMOS dual-bandpass filtering T/R switch operating in two
different frequency bands centered around 24 and 60 GHz.
The switch can operate in a variety of separate and concur-
rent modes, either in single band, dual band, transmission,
and reception or simultaneous transmission and reception,
with bandpass filtering and enhanced isolation. It can also
function as a diplexer with switching capability and allow
the transmission and reception in multiband to be carried
out simultaneously with a single antenna—a highly desirable
feature for multiband RF systems. The frequency bands at
24 and 60 GHz are chosen for nonlicense applications taking
advantages of both long- and short-range communications,
networking and sensing at 24 and 60 GHz, respectively.
II. SWITCH ARCHITECTURE,DESIGN, AND OPERATION
A. 24-/60-GHz Dual-Bandpass Filtering T/R Switch
Fig. 1(a) shows the schematic of the 24-/60-GHz dual-
bandpass filtering T/R switch implemented using four SPST
switches. It has five different ports: Port 1 is the transmit-
ting (TX) port for both 24- and 60-GHz signals; Port 2
(ANT1) and Port 3 (ANT2) are the antenna ports for both
24 and 60 GHz; and Port 4 (RX1) and Port 5 (RX2) are the
receiving (RX) ports for 24- and 60-GHz signals, respectively.
The ANT ports could belong to a single antenna with two ports
operating concurrently at 24 and 60 GHz or two different
antennas operating concurrently at 24 and 60 GHz. The
T/R switch’s design parameters and their values are listed
in Fig. 1(a).
One of the most crucial requirements in multiband T/R
switches designed for concurrent TX and RX operations with
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