Differential signal source chips at 150 GHz and 220 GHz in SiGe bipolar technologies based on Gilbert-Cell frequency doublers

This paper presents two differential signal source chips for 150 GHz and 220 GHz in SiGe:C bipolar technologies. The presented architectures consist of a fundamental VCO with a frequency doubling output stage based on the differential Gilbert-Cell. The 150 GHz chip is fabricated in a production technology with an f_T of 170 GHz and f_max of 250 GHz, the 220 GHz in an advanced laboratory technology with f_T/f_max = 240 GHz/380 GHz. The main goal of this work is to achieve signal sources near the cut-off frequencies of the used technologies with differential outputs. The signal sources achieve a relative 3 dB bandwidth of >; 20% with an output power of 0 dBm and -6 dBm for the 150 GHz chip and 220 GHz chip, respectively. The power consumptions are kept at a moderate level with 430 mW for the 150 GHz chip and 580 mW for the 220 GHz chip from a 5 V supply.