A 60 GHz Mixer-based Reflectometer in 130nm SiGe BiCMOS Technology toward Dielectric Spectroscopy in Medical Applications

This paper presents the design, implementation, layout and measured results of a 60 GHz active mixer based reflectometer for dielectric spectroscopy. The reflectometer has been implemented in 130 nm SiGe BiCMOS technology with f
_t
/f
_max
= 250/340 GHz. An off-chip modified open-ended microstrip line sensor on Rogers 3003 substrate is deployed as the dielectric sensor. The system provides an output voltage of 6 m V for the change in dielectric permittivity from ethanol to methanol at 60 GHz and is capable of resolving their binary mixtures of certain ratios around 60 GHz. The presented system consumes 64.35 mW of power from 3.3 V supply. It occupies an area of 2.1 mm
²
and is a prospective system for miniaturized dielectric sensing for biomedical applications.