24-GHz ultra-wideband transmitter for vehicular short-range radar applications

This paper presents a 24-GHz transmitter for ultra-wideband short-range radar applications fabricated in a 0.13-μm SiGe:C BiCMOS technology. The circuit is composed of a frequency synthesiser, based on 24-GHz voltage-controlled oscillator in an N-integer phase-locked loop (PLL), a RF switch delivering a 0-dBm output power, and a tunable rectangular pulse generator, whose pulse width covers a range between 0.5 and 1.2 ns. The transmitter has been developed for a flip-chip bumping assembly on a module with an UWB antenna. Assuming a 10.5-dBi antenna gain, it is compliant with European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) transmission mask and is able to cover the main automotive applications addressing both a resolution better than 0.1 m and maximum unambiguous range of 15 m.