A 84-129GHz Wideband Dual-Core Injection-Locked Frequency Tripler Using Gm-enhancement Technique

This work presents a dual-core injection-locked frequency tripler (ILFT) achieving a wide locking range (LR) without tuning. It adopts a transformer-based self-mixing harmonic generator by using a push-push doubler and mixer, which can greatly enhance the 3rd harmonic current while suppressing the fundamental tone. The enhanced 3rd harmonic current is further coupled to the dual-core high-order resonator tank to ensure the start-up condition and a wide LR. An output buffer is added to enhance the output power and further reject undesired harmonics. The ILFT is implemented in 28-nm CMOS process. The post-layout simulation results show that the ILFT has 42.25% locking range operating from 84 to 129 GHz, and the total power consumption of ILFT is only 25 mW.