Multi-GHz Bandwidth Radiation Hardened 32nm SOI Delta Sigma Modulation ADC/DAC for E-Band Satellite Communications

The E-Band frequency bands from 71 to 76 GHz and 81 to 86 GHz have been designated for satellite down- and uplinks, and have gained an increased interest. The wide bandwidth in excess of 1GHz allows the use of low order modulation schemes and simple receiver implementation. In other words, coarser Analog to Digital converter (ADC) and Digital to Analog (DAC) converters can be used in the RF front end. For low IF even higher bandwidths may be required. In this research, we propose to implement the ADC and DAC using Delta Sigma Modulation techniques which achieve equivalent high oversampling by adding multiple paths and interleaved sampling while keeping the base sampling frequency low. With Delta Sigma Modulation we can design and tapeout monolithic System on a Chip solutions with integrated ADCs and DACs. The Delta Sigma Modulators will be designed and taped out in the Radiation Hardened 32nm SOI CMOS process. The high density of the technology node can be exploited for implementing the System on a Chip capable of processing the high band width signals and providing the high speed Host interface.