A Ka-Band Integrated Six-Port Chip for Analog Complex Correlator

Abstract

Six-port technology has been widely used in microwave systems, such as interferometric passive imaging. In this paper, an integrated Ka-band (32–36 GHz) six-port chip based on the 0.15-μm GaAs technology is designed and fabricated to simplify the circuit structure and miniaturize the volume of the imaging system. The designed chip integrates two amplifiers, two phase shifters, and a six-port circuit as part of an analog complex correlator. In this integrated chip, the crosstalk between the two amplifiers cannot be ignored. This paper analyzes the influence of the isolation between two amplifiers on the correlation results to guide the six-port chip design. In addition, considering that the radiometer system receives a broadband noise signal, the phase shifter needs to ensure that the phase shift range of each frequency point is the same under the same control conditions. Therefore, the phase shifter is designed with a high-pass and low-pass structure. The measurement results show that the isolation between the two amplifiers is greater than 20 dB, and the measured phase shift range and phase shift range error of the designed chip are 220° and 10°, respectively, with the control voltage varying from 0 to 1.5 V, which meets the requirements of the system.