35.5 GHz Parametric CMOS Upconverter

Parametric circuit techniques are a promising means of applying CMOS to millimeter-wave (mm-wave) and sub-mm-wave front-ends. However, almost no experimental results are available for these circuits in modern silicon technologies. In this letter, a parametric 0.5-to-35.5 GHz upconverter based on an accumulation-mode MOS varactor (AMOSV) is implemented in 0.13 μm CMOS technology. It achieves a maximum conversion gain of 14 dB in the upper sideband (USB) configuration and 13 dB in the lower sideband (LSB) configuration with no dc power consumption. In the design, on-chip slow-wave coplanar waveguide interconnections are used for reducing layout area.