An Early Comparison of D-Band and G-Band On-Wafer Noise Figure Measurements

This paper presents a comparative analysis of onwafer noise figure (NF) measurements at D-band <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$(110-170 \text{GHz})$</tex> and G -band <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$(140-220 \text{GHz})$</tex> frequencies using cold-source and Y-factor methods. A broadband distributed amplifier fabricated in an advanced BiCMOS process is used as the device under test. The measurement setups employ automated source tuners, bandspecific calibration components, and vector network analyzerbased gain extraction to improve accuracy. Results highlight notable discrepancies in NF and gain measurements across bands, attributed primarily to variations in calibration and gain estimation. The study provides insight into the sensitivity of sub-THz NF metrology to hardware non-idealities, and proposes techniques to mitigate these challenges, with implications for the design and evaluation of future 6 G systems.