Silicon Photonic Radar Transmitter IC for mm-Wave Large Aperture MIMO Radar Using Optical Clock Distribution

An optoelectronic millimeter-wave (mm-wave) radar transmitter (TX) integrated circuit (IC) for multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) imaging radar in silicon photonics technology is presented. The MIMO radar system architecture in which the ICs shall be used features an optical local oscillator (LO) distributed over fiber to coherently operate mm-wave transceiver frontends. Optical LO distribution enables larger apertures and hence higher angular resolution for MIMO imaging radars. The optoelectronic TX frontend IC integrates all electronic and photonic components needed to receive the optical LO signal and to generate a transmit signal at mm-wave. It operates on both 1310- and 1550-nm LO wavelengths. The chip was designed in a pre-production photonic SiGe BiCMOS technology from IHP. Measured output power is 13 dBm at 67 GHz and 5 dBm at 77 GHz from −5-dBm optical modulation amplitude (OMA). The IC dissipates 900 mW from a single 3.6-V supply voltage.