Fully Integrated 300 GHz Receiver S-MMICs in 50 nm Metamorphic HEMT Technology

Two fully integrated H-band (220-325 GHz) submillimeter-wave monolithic integrated circuit (S-MMIC) heterodyne receivers have been successfully developed, based on a 50 nm metamorphic high electron mobility transistor (mHEMT) technology. A fabricated fundamental down-conversion receiver achieved a conversion gain of more than 11 dB in the frequency range from 270 to 310 GHz with an LO power of only 12 dBm. Furthermore, a subharmonic receiver S-MMIC was developed, consisting of an active frequency multiplier by three, a two stage driver amplifier, a single-ended resistive mixer, and a four-stage low-noise amplifier, demonstrating a conversion gain of more than 12 dB from 290 to 320 GHz with a subharmonic LO-power of 8 dBm. Grounded coplanar waveguide (GCPW) topology in combination with cascode transistors resulted in a very compact die size of less than 1.25 mm².