High-Sensitivity 270-320 GHz InGaAs-Based Power Detector with Temperature-Compensation Mechanism

This paper presents the design and measured performance of the first power detector tailored for power monitoring in communication systems operating in the frequency range of 270 GHz to 320 GHz. State-of-the-art sensitivity of 2.5 kV/W for a 300 GHz sinusoidal signal and state-of-the-art layout compactness with a 300 um to 200 um core size are achieved. The high sensitivity is reached by utilizing a reduced conduction angle of 140° of a common-source InGaAs mHEMT-based amplifier. A temperature-compensation mechanism is included in the compact core of the design and its performance is investigated in the range of 298 K to 338 K.