Abstract
A digitally controlled artificial dielectric (DiCAD) differential transmission line is designed to perform agile linear phase shift over 100° with thermometer-coded 16step control. It also operates with a 16 gain-step VGA to enable re-configurable and direct-frequency modulation at 60GHz with 256 2 states (1.1° angular and 0.0007 magnitude resolutions) and -31dB static EVM for multiple PSK/QAM modulations. The modulator uses 0.33mm 2 core area in 90nm CMOS and consumes 10mA at 1V. © 2009 IEEE.