Active IQ and quadrature generator for high frequency applications

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9897686-B2
Application number	US-201314767295-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 12, 2013
Priority date	Feb 12, 2013
Publication date	Feb 20, 2018
Grant date	Feb 20, 2018

Abstract

An active I/Q generator circuit comprises an input node for receiving a reference oscillation signal. The circuit has an I-output and a Q-output for respectively outputting an I-signal and a Q-signal. A first active component is electrically coupled to the input node and arranged to amplify the reference oscillation signal and to output an amplified reference oscillation signal. A second active component is electrically coupled to the first active component to receive the amplified reference oscillation signal. The second active component is arranged to generate, based on the amplified reference oscillation signal, an in-phase signal and a, with respect to the in-phase signal, phase shifted signal, the second active component electrically coupled to the in-phase signal output for providing the in-phase signal and electrically coupled to the quadrature-phase output for providing the phase-shifted signal.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An active in-phase quadrature-phase generator circuit, comprising:
an input node for receiving a reference oscillation signal;
an in-phase signal output for outputting an in-phase signal;
a quadrature-phase signal output for outputting a quadrature-phase signal;
a first transistor including a first transistor control terminal electrically coupled to the input node, a first transistor first current terminal and a first transistor second current terminal, and arranged to amplify the reference oscillation signal and output an amplified reference oscillation signal; and
a second transistor including a second transistor control terminal, a second transistor first current terminal electrically coupled to the first transistor second current terminal and a second transistor second current terminal, and arranged to generate, based on the amplified reference oscillation signal, the in-phase signal and a, with respect to the in-phase signal, phase shifted signal, the second transistor second current terminal electrically coupled to the in-phase signal output for providing said in-phase signal and the second transistor control terminal electrically coupled to the quadrature-phase signal output for providing said phase-shifted signal.

2. The active in-phase quadrature-phase generator circuit of claim 1 , wherein the second transistor exhibits a reactance with a capacitive component between the second transistor control terminal and the second transistor second current terminal.

3. The active in-phase quadrature-phase generator circuit of claim 1 , further comprising a first passive component and a second passive component, the first passive component arranged between the second transistor and the quadrature-phase signal output and the second passive component arranged between the second transistor and the in-phase signal output.

4. The active in-phase quadrature-phase generator circuit of claim 3 , the first and second passive components arranged to obtain from the phase-shifted signal said quadrature-phase signal by at least changing the phase and/or amplitude of the phase-shifted signal relative to the in-phase signal.

5. The active in-phase quadrature-phase generator circuit of claim 4 , wherein the phase-shifted signal exhibits a relative mismatch comprising one or more of a phase mismatch or an amplitude mismatch with the quadrature-phase signal, and
the first and second passive components are configured to reduce said relative mismatch.

6. The active in-phase quadrature-phase generator circuit of claim 3 , further comprising first and second inductive elements, the first inductive element arranged between the second transistor and the quadrature-phase signal output and the second inductive element arranged between the second transistor and the in-phase signal output.

7. The active in-phase quadrature-phase generator circuit of claim 6 , further comprising a third inductive element arranged between a first voltage supply node and a collector of the second transistor.

8. The active in-phase quadrature-phase generator circuit of claim 7 , wherein at least one of the first, second, and third inductive elements is a transmission line.

9. The active in-phase quadrature-phase generator circuit of claim 1 , further comprising a capacitor arranged between the first transistor and a ground node or a second supply voltage node.

10. The active in-phase quadrature-phase generator circuit of claim 1 , wherein the reference oscillation signal has a carrier frequency in the range of 10 to 100 GHz.

Assignees

• Ghazinour Akbar
• Dehlink Bernhard
• Nxp Usa Inc

Inventors

• Ghazinour Akbar
• Dehlink Bernhard

Classifications

• G01S2007/2886

  Physics · mapped topic

• G01S7/285 Primary

  Receivers · CPC title

• G01S7/2886

  using I/Q processing · CPC title