Wideband millimeter-wave frontend integrated circuit

A radio frequency (RF) frontend integrated circuit (IC) device, the RF frontend IC device comprising:

• an array of transceivers, each of the transceivers corresponding to one of a plurality of RF channels, wherein each of the RF channels includes a phase shifter configured to transmit and receive RF signals according to a respective phase shift setting within a predetermined frequency band, including shifting or compensating a phase of the RF signals according to the respective phase shift setting;
• a frequency synthesizer coupled to each of the transceivers to perform frequency synchronization in a wide frequency spectrum, wherein the frequency synthesizer generates a local oscillator (LO) signal for each of the transceivers to enable each of the transceivers to transmit and receive the RF signals within its respective RF channel;
• an up-converter coupled to each of the transceivers and the frequency synthesizer, wherein the up-converter is configured to up-convert a first intermediate frequency (IF) signal based on a LO signal into a first RF signal to be transmitted by the transceivers;
• and
• a down-converter coupled to each of the transceivers and the frequency synthesizer, wherein the down-converter is configured to down-convert a second RF signal received from the transceivers based on the LO signal into a second IF signal, wherein the array of transceivers, the frequency synthesizer, the up-converter, and the down-converter are embedded within a single IC chip.

A radio frequency (RF) frontend integrated circuit (IC) device, the RF frontend IC device comprising:

• a frequency synthesizer having a phase-lock loop (PLL) and a local oscillator (LO) buffer to generate an LO signal based on a clock signal;
• an IF in-phase and quadrature (IQ) generator (IFIQ generator) to receive a first IF signal from a modem or a baseband processor to generate a first IFIQ signal;
• an IFIQ combiner to generate a second IF signal based on a second IFIQ signal, the second IF signal to be processed by the modem or a baseband processor;
• and
• a plurality of transceivers coupled to the frequency synthesizer, wherein each of the transceivers is associated with one of a plurality of RF channels that is configured to transmit and receive RF signals according to one of a plurality of amplitude and phase shift settings within a predetermined frequency band, wherein each of the transceivers comprises:
• a transmitter coupled to the frequency synthesizer to up-convert the first IFIQ signal using the LO signal to a first RF signal to be transmitted to a first remote device, and
• a receiver coupled to the frequency synthesizer to down-convert a second RF signal received from a second remote device using the LO signal to the second IFIQ signal,
• wherein the plurality of transceivers, the frequency synthesizer, the IFIQ generator, and the IFIQ combiner are embedded within a single IC chip.