129-145-GHz Low-Noise Amplifier Waveguide Module With Low-Loss Chip-to-Waveguide Transition for CMOS Technologies

초록

This article presents a waveguide module for a CMOS low-noise amplifier (LNA) chip operating at D-band frequencies. A wideband, low-loss chip-to-waveguide transition is proposed to package bulk CMOS chips into waveguide modules. To reduce the high loss associated with the silicon substrate, the substrate is back-grinded to a thickness of 37 mu m using a commercially available, low-cost process. The back-grinded chip, which integrates on-chip dipole antennas for the transition, is mounted into a standard WR-6.5 waveguide. The measured insertion loss per transition is 2.0 +/- 0.6 dB from 110 to 170 GHz, covering the full D-band frequencies. The proposed chip-to-waveguide transition is applied to a D-band LNA chip fabricated using a bulk 28-nm CMOS process. The resulting LNA waveguide module achieves a peak gain of 13.1 dB at 138.5 GHz, with a 3-dB bandwidth of 16.1 GHz spanning from 129.3 to 145.4 GHz. The measured noise figure (NF) ranges from 9.3 to 10.9 dB within the 129-135-GHz frequency range. The input 1-dB compression point (IP1 dB) varies between -14.7 and-12.3 dBm across the 130-144 GHz range. This work demonstrates a promising, low-cost waveguide packaging solution for subterahertz (sub-THz) CMOS chips.

키워드