A 170-260 GHz SiGe Frequency Doubler with 5-dBm Output Power and 13-dB Input Power Range

A frequency doubler in a 90-nm SiGe BiCMOS technology operates over 170-260 GHz and incorporates bias feedback to maintain fixed gain over a wider input power range. With a peak conversion gain of -2.0 dB at 190 GHz, the doubler’s bias feedback maintains conversion gain variation to less than 3 dB over a 13-dB input power range. The measured output power is greater than -3.3 dBm over 170-260 GHz, with a peak value of 5.8 dBm and 7.2% efficiency at 206 GHz. The total chip area is 0.074 mm<sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> and is much more compact than typical doublers.