An ultra-wideband D-Band signal source chip using a fundamental VCO with frequency doubler in a SiGe bipolar technology

This paper presents an ultra-wideband signal source chip for the D-Band in a SiGe:C bipolar production technology with an f_T of 170 GHz and f_max of 250 GHz. The presented architecture consists of a fundamental VCO with a frequency doubling output stage. The goal of this work is to achieve a signal source near the technologies cut-off frequency while providing good performance concerning phase noise, bandwidth, and output power simultaneously. The chip facilitates a 3 dBm peak output power and a 3 dB bandwidth of 39 GHz. The phase noise at 1 MHz offset is -93 dBc/Hz at 147 GHz (and better than -89 dBc/Hz in a wide frequency range of 39 GHz). The results are achieved with a power consumption of 410 mW from a 5 V supply.