Reflection-based RF phase shifter

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10062946-B2
Application number	US-201614988463-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 5, 2016
Priority date	Jan 5, 2016
Publication date	Aug 28, 2018
Grant date	Aug 28, 2018

Abstract

Programmable multi-reflective phase shifters which provide reduced root-mean-square phase error, can be optimized for a desired frequency band, can compensate for process variations arising during manufacture, and can help offset system level performance shortfalls. Embodiments include a hybrid coupler (e.g., a Lange hybrid coupler) in combination with a multi-reflective reactance-based terminating circuit with a number of different configurations that permit various modes of operation, including a thermometric mode, a phase overlap mode with interstitial phase shift states, an extended range phase shift mode, and a “tweak bit” mode. A number of programmable or selectable RF phase shifters can be series or parallel connected to provide a desired gamut of phase shift.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A programmable multi-reflective radio frequency (RF) phase shifter, including:
(a) a hybrid coupler having an input port, an output port, a coupled port, and a direct port;
(b) first and second multi-reflective terminating circuits coupled respectively to the coupled port and the direct port of the hybrid coupler, each multi-reflective terminating circuit including two or more switchable reactive elements; and
(c) thermometric coding control circuitry coupled to the first and second multi-reflective terminating circuits for sequentially controlling the switchable reactive elements so as to generate multiple equidistant phase shifts of a signal applied to the input port of the hybrid coupler.

2. The programmable multi-reflective RF phase shifter of claim 1 , wherein the thermometric coding control circuitry further controls the switchable reactive elements so as to generate at least one interstitial phase shift of the signal applied to the input port of the hybrid coupler.

3. The programmable multi-reflective RF phase shifter of claim 1 , wherein the switchable reactive elements have corresponding control lines, and the thermometric coding control circuitry maps m control bits to n of the control lines, where m≥n, to provide a corrected phase shift mapping that achieves a desired thermometric coding so as to generate the multiple equidistant phase shifts of the signal applied to the input port of the hybrid coupler.

4. The programmable multi-reflective RF phase shifter of claim 1 , wherein the switchable reactive elements are capacitor/switch reactive elements.

5. The programmable multi-reflective RF phase shifter of claim 1 , wherein the reactive elements are fabricated as monolithic integrated circuits using a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) process.

6. The programmable multi-reflective RF phase shifter of claim 1 , wherein the reactive elements include stacked field effect transistor switches.

7. The programmable multi-reflective RF phase shifter of claim 6 , wherein the field effect transistor switches are implemented in complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) circuitry.

8. A programmable multi-reflective radio frequency (RF) phase shifter, including:
(a) a hybrid coupler having an input port, an output port, a coupled port, and a direct port;
(b) first and second multi-reflective terminating circuits coupled respectively to the coupled port and the direct port of the hybrid coupler, each multi-reflective terminating circuit including two or more switchable reactive elements, the two or more switchable reactive elements having progressively increasing reactance values; and
(c) control circuitry coupled to the first and second multi-reflective terminating circuits for selectively controlling selected ones of the two or more switchable reactive elements so as to generate multiple equidistant phase shifts of a signal applied to the input port of the hybrid coupler.

9. The programmable multi-reflective RF phase shifter of claim 8 , wherein the control circuitry further controls the switchable reactive elements so as to generate an extended range of phase shifts of the signal applied to the input port of the hybrid coupler.

10. The programmable multi-reflective RF phase shifter of claim 8 , wherein the switchable reactive elements are capacitor/switch reactive elements.

11. The programmable multi-reflective RF phase shifter of claim 8 , wherein the reactive elements are fabricated as monolithic integrated circuits using a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) process.

12. The programmable multi-reflective RF phase shifter of claim 8 , wherein the reactive elements include stacked field effect transistor switches.

13. The programmable multi-reflective RF phase shifter of claim 12 , wherein the field effect transistor switches are implemented in complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) circuitry.

14. A programmable multi-reflective radio frequency (RF) phase shifter, including:
(a) a hybrid coupler having an input port, an output port, a coupled port, and a direct port;
(b) first and second multi-reflective terminating circuits coupled respectively to the coupled port and the direct port of the hybrid coupler, each multi-reflective terminating circuit including:
(1) two or more main phase control switchable reactive elements; and
(2) at least one selectable tweaking reactive element each having a reactance sufficient to shift the phase of a signal applied to the input port of the hybrid coupler by an associated degree;

(c) control circuitry coupled to the first and second multi-reflective terminating circuits for controlling the main phase control switchable reactive elements so as to generate multiple phase shifts of the signal applied to the input port of the hybrid coupler; and
(d) selection circuitry coupled to the at least one selectable tweaking switchable reactive element for shifting the phase of the signal by the associated degree to fine tune or compensate for confounding factors to the overall phase shift applied to the signal.

15. The programmable multi-reflective RF phase shifter of claim 14 , wherein the set amount of phase shift of the signal by the at least one selectable tweaking switchable reactive element in the first multi-reflective terminating circuit is different from the set amount of phase shift of the signal by the at least one selectable tweaking switchable reactive element in the second multi-reflective terminating circuit.

16. A circuit configuration in which at least one of the programmable multi-reflective RF phase shifters in accordance with claim 1 , 8 , or 14 is coupled in series to an RF phase shifter having a different range of phase shifting.

17. A circuit configuration in which at least two of the programmable multi-reflective RF phase shifters in accordance with claim 1 , 8 , or 14 are coupled in series, and each RF phase shifter provides a different range of phase shifting.

18. A method for programmably phase shifting an RF signal in multiple equidistant phase shifts, including:
(a) providing a hybrid coupler having an input port, an output port, a coupled port, and a direct port;
(b) providing first and second multi-reflective terminating circuits coupled respectively to the coupled port and the direct port of the hybrid coupler, each multi-reflective terminating circuit including two or more switchable reactive elements; and
(c) sequentially controlling the switchable reactive elements by means of thermometric coding so as to generate multiple equidistant phase shifts of a signal applied to the input port of the hybrid coupler.

19. A method for programmably phase shifting an RF signal in multiple equidistant phase shifts, including:
(a) providing a hybrid coupler having an input port, an output port, a coupled port, and a direct port;
(b) providing first and second multi-reflective terminating circuits coupled respectively to the coupled port and the direct port of the hybrid coupler, each multi-reflective terminating circuit including two or more switchable reactive elements;
(c) sequentially controlling the switchable reactive elements by means of thermometric coding so as to generate multiple equidistant phase shifts of a signal applied to the input port of the hybrid coupler; and
(d) controlling the switchable reactive elements so as to generate at least one interstitial phase shift of the signal applied to the input port of the hybrid coupler.

20. A method for programmably phase shifting an RF signal in multiple equidistant phase shifts,

Assignees

• Psemi Corp

Inventors

• Sharma Vikas
• Bacon Peter
• Moffat Mark

Classifications

• H01P5/16 Primary

  Conjugate devices, i.e. devices having at least one port decoupled from one other port · CPC title

• H01P1/18

  Phase-shifters (H01P1/165 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H03H7/20 Primary

  Two-port phase shifters providing an adjustable phase shift · CPC title