A Signal Source in J-Band with 237-287 GHz Tuning Range in a 130-nm SiGe BiCMOS Process

This article presents a J-band signal source fabricated in a 130 nm SiGe BiCMOS process which consists of a K-band voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), a D-band frequency quadrupler (X4) and an amplifier (AMP) and a J-band frequency doubler (X2). It has a tuning range of 19.1 % (237-287 GHz) centered at 262 GHz with an average output power of −3.1 dBm. Average measured phase noise is −78.4 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz offset. The chip has an area of 1.6 mm<sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> and it consumes a maximum power of 622 mW. Thus it results in 0.15 % DC-to-RF efficiency. It stands out as a fully integrated state-of-the-art silicon-based signal source at J-band frequencies, with a wide tuning range and practical output power.