A 0.2#x2013;3-GHz N-Path True Time Delay Circuit Achieving #x003C;1#x0025; Delay Variation Over Frequency

摘要

$N$ -path true time delay (TTD) circuits are highly attractive due to their high delay-bandwidth product, wideband response, scalability, and small size. However, in its standalone form, it cannot provide wideband input and output matching. To overcome these issues, we present a modified circuit of the $N$ -path TTD that includes an input low-noise amplifier (LNA) and an output buffer. The $N$ -path TTD response and its nonideal properties are analyzed further. A design guide is suggested, and an alternative isolated sampling switch is proposed. We present a 65-nm CMOS dedicated implementation, where the fine-tuning of the TTD is achieved by introducing two synchronized external local oscillator (LO) signals, with a relative shift between them. The core chip size is $0.32 ,times ,0.575$ mm 2 , and its power consumption is 30 mW for all delay states. In our implementation, we achieve a delay range of 1 ns for bandwidth (BW) of 0.2–3 GHz with a gain standard deviation (STD) of less than 0.14 dB between delay states and a relative delay STD of less than 10 ps (1%) over frequency.