A 270-to-300GHz Amplifier-Last Transmitter with 6.7dBm Peak Output Power Using 130nm SiGe Process

This paper presents an amplifier-last transmitter (TX), operating from 270-to-300 GHz, in a 130 nm SiGe BiCMOS process. The TX is composed of a 250 GHz multiplier-by-6 local oscillator (LO) chain, an-isolation-enhanced fundamental mixer, and a four-stage gm-boosting power amplifier (PA). The measured peak output power of the LO chain is 7.8 dBm at 250 GHz. The TX achieves a measured peak Psat of 6.7 dBm at 278 GHz and 282 GHz, and delivers a measured maximum OP1dB of 5 dBm at 280 GHz with 3 dB bandwidth larger than 26 GHz. The measured LO leakage and image signal rejection are better than 21.7 dBc and 34.1 dBc respectively. For the first time, the silicon-based PA is integrated with 300 GHz TX, and the TX achieves the highest Psat and OP1dB compared to other state-of-the-arts >250 GHz silicon-based TX.