A 130 nm-SiGe-BiCMOS low-power receiver based on distributed amplifier techniques for broadband applications from 140 GHz to 200 GHz

Abstract

This work presents a direct-conversion receiver for G-band applications formed by a cascaded single-stage distributed amplifier optimized for low noise, a single-balanced active mixer with inductive peaking and broadband RF matching, and a local oscillator (LO) driver. The receiver is optimized for reduced DC and LO power consumption, while practical levels of linearity and noise are retained. The complete receiver and of the stand-alone mixer are implemented in 0.62 mm2 and 0.39 mm2 of a 130 nm SiGe BiCMOS technology with 450 GHz maximum-oscillation frequency. The measured receiver saturated gain in LO compression is 17 dB with a 6 dB band of 60 GHz and a 3 dB band of 30 GHz, while the input power which compresses the gain by 1 dB (Pin1dB) is -35 dBm. The simulated receiver double-sideband noise figure is 11 dB. Finally, the circuit requires an LO power of -17 dBm at 170 GHz and a DC power of 98 mW. The measured gain of the mixer is -13 dB with a 3 dB band of 70 GHz. The component Pin1dB is -20 dBm for -18 dBm LO power and 53 mW DC power. These circuits offer one of the largest operation bandwidth together with one of the lowest DC and LO power consumption against the state of the art.