20-Gbps 60-GHz OOK modulator in SiGe BiCMOS technology

This paper presents design and characterization of a 60-GHz On-Off Keying (OOK) modulator for low-power ultra-high-speed wireless communications. The circuit operation relies on the active control of the load impedance of a differential pair; in addition, a matched always-off differential pair increases the isolation by cancellation of the off currents. The circuit was implemented in a 0.25-μm SiGe BiCMOS and can deliver up to 20 Gbps over a 60-GHz carrier. The OOK modulator exhibits an insertion loss of 1.1 dB and an isolation of 36 dB, requiring 54.6 mW of DC power from a 2-V supply. To the authors' best knowledge, data rate and isolation are the highest reported for 60-GHz OOK modulators.