Analysis and Design of D-band High Output Power Signal Sources in 130-nm SiGe BiCMOS Process

This paper presents two D-band (110-170 GHz) signal sources. By adopting high pass matching network in E-band (60-90 GHz) tripler and D-band doubler design, signal source I exhibits an excellent unwanted harmonics suppression of over 30 dBc. This chip achieves a measured peak output power of 5.6 dBm at 159 GHz, and the output frequency tuning range (TR) is from 143.2 to 168.8 GHz with -94 dBc/Hz @ 1 MHz phase noise. The output power of signal source II is enhanced by the adopted second harmonic output power enhancement technique in the design of D-band doubler. On wafer measurement of this chip shows a maximum output power of 7.5 dBm at 148 GHz, while the output frequency TR is between 136.8 and 156.2 GHz. Compared with other D-band signal sources, the proposed two signal sources achieve comparable frequency tuning range, phase noise and output power while using silicon-based processes.