Phase shifter, system, chip and radar sensor including plural differential transmission lines that can be adjusted to provide for desired phase shift

A transmission line phase shifter, comprising at least one transmission line phase-shifting unit configured to receive an input radio frequency (RF) signal and to output an output RF signal, wherein

• a respective transmission line phase-shifting unit of the at least one transmission line phase-shifting unit comprises a first pair of differential transmission lines, a second pair of differential transmission lines, and a phase adjusting circuit;
• and
• the phase adjusting circuit is configured to receive at least one phase shifting control signal and to adjust electrical parameters of a transmission path according to the at least one phase shifting control signal, so that the output RF signal has a phase shift of a first phase or a second phase relative to the input RF signal, the transmission path including at least one pair of transmission lines of the first pair of differential transmission lines and the second pair of differential transmission lines;
• wherein the first pair of differential transmission lines is arranged between the second pair of differential transmission lines, and the first pair of differential transmission lines and the second pair of differential transmission lines are arranged on a same metal layer or different metal layers.

A phase shifting system, comprising:

• a transmission line phase shifter;
• wherein the transmission line phase shifter includes at least two transmission line phase-shifting units configured to receive an input radio frequency (RF) signal and to output an output RF signal, a respective transmission line phase-shifting unit of the at least two transmission line phase-shifting units comprises a first pair of differential transmission lines, a second pair of differential transmission lines, and a phase adjusting circuit, the phase adjusting circuit being electrically coupled to the first pair of differential transmission lines and the second pair of differential transmission lines;
• and the second pair of differential transmission lines of each transmission line phase-shifting unit are respectively coupled with the second pair of differential transmission lines of an adjacent transmission line phase-shifting unit to form a cascaded circuit;
• and
• a phase shifting controller, wherein
• the phase shifting controller is coupled to the phase adjusting circuit of each transmission line phase-shifting unit, and is configured to output a plurality of phase shifting control signals to adjust at least one of a capacitance parameter and an inductance parameter of a respective transmission line phase-shifting unit of at least one transmission line phase-shifting unit, for the respective transmission line phase-shifting unit to output a phase-shifted RF signal according to the first phase or the second phase;
• wherein the first pair of differential transmission lines and the second pair of differential transmission lines have distinct RF current paths with different electrical characteristics affecting a phase of the input RF signal;
• and
• the phase adjusting circuit is configured to receive at least one phase shifting control signal and to adjust electrical parameters of the respective transmission line phase-shifting unit by controlling signal transmission in the first pair of differential transmission lines and the second pair of differential transmission lines according to the at least one phase shifting control signal.