A low-power 190–255 GHz frequency quadrupler in SiGe BiCMOS technology for on-chip spectroscopic applications

Abstract

This paper presents the design of a wide-band frequency quadrupler in the 240 GHz frequency regime fabricated in a 0.13 μm SiGe BiCMOS process. Frequency multiplication is performed in two stages: in the first stage, two push-push doublers with quadrature input double the input frequency and in the second stage, a bootstrapped Gilbert-cell doubler delivers quadrupled signal at the output. A Marchand balun and a polyphase filter (PPF) transform the single-ended input into a differential quadrature signal. The differential output has been converted into a single-ended signal using a rat-race coupler. The quadrupler shows a 3-dB bandwidth of 29.2 % (190-255 GHz) and the maximum output power is -16.4 dBm. The chip is 0.45 mm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> and consumes 48 mW power. As a wide-band quadrupler, this chip is a useful building block for on-chip low-power dielectric spectroscopy.