An Oscillator and a Mixer for 140-GHz Heterodyne Receiver Front-End based on SiGe HBT Technology

Abstract

This paper reports a couple of key circuit blocks developed for heterodyne receiver front-ends operating near 140 GHz based on SiGe HBT technology. Firstly, a 123-GHz oscillator was developed based on Colpitts topology, which showed 5 dBm output power and phase noise of -107.34 dBc/Hz at 10 MHz. DC power dissipation was 25.6 mW. Secondly, a 135 GHz mixer was developed based on a modified Gilbert Cell topology, which exhibited a peak conversion gain of 3.6 dB at 1 GHz IF at fixed LO frequency of 134 GHz. DC power dissipation was 3 mW, which mostly comes from the buffer.