Key components of a 130 GHz dicke-radiometer SiGe RFIC

This paper presents the design and characterization results of the key components of calibrated passive radiometer (Dicke-radiometer) operating in the low D-band (around 130 GHz) and realized in IBM's standard 0.12-um SiGe BiCMOS technology (IBM8HP, f
_T
/f
_MAX
=180/220 GHz). Several perspective candidates for the Dicke-switch, the low-noise amplifier and the square-law detector have been designed and characterized, obtaining fair agreement between the measured and the simulated performance.