A 4–38 GHz SiGe Dual-Modulus Prescaler for Wideband Frequency Synthesizers

A wideband divide-by-4/5 dual-modulus prescaler (DMP) with operating frequency from 4 GHz to 38 GHz has been designed and fabricated in 0.13-μm SiGe BiCMOS technology. An on-chip wideband marchand balun is used for the conversion of single-ended to differential signal at input port of the DMP and a pair of emitter followers serve as output buffers. In addition, the split-resistor load technique is also adopted to enhance the operating frequency. The proposed DMP can operate effectively at any supply voltage from 2.5 V to 3.3 V for a wide temperature range from –40 °C to 125 °C. It achieves a measured maximum operating frequency of 38 GHz with 50.2 mW power consumption at 3.3 V voltage supply. The chip area is 1.0×0.57 mm² with a core area of only 0.14×0.1 mm².