A 91 GHz receiver front-end in silicon-germanium technology

A W-band receiver front-end, including a low-noise amplifier (LNA), a coupled-wire Marchand balun and a double-balanced mixer, has been designed and fabricated in IBMpsilas 8 HP 0.12 mum, 200 GHz-f_T SiGe technology. The circuit operates in the 87-94 GHz frequency range with a peak conversion gain of 36.3 dB and a minimum single side-band (SSB) noise figure of 10 dB. At 91 GHz the measured 1 dB input compression point is -36 dBm. The entire circuit occupies 1.82 mm² including bond pads and dissipates only 109.7 mW. To the authorspsila knowledge this front-end achieves the highest conversion gain among published receiver front-ends in silicon-based technology operating beyond 90 GHz.