A 0.46–0.52-THz fully-differential quasi-monostatic FMCW radar transceiver in 90-nm SiGe BiCMOS

Abstract

A 0.46–0.52-THz fully-differential quasi-monostatic frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) radar transceiver was designed in a 90-nm SiGe bipolar CMOS technology with fT/fmax\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\ extit{f}_{ \ extit{T}}/{f}_{\ ext{max}}$$\\end{document} of 300/480 GHz. The transceiver chip has an area of 2.84 mm2\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\ ext{mm}^{2}$$\\end{document}. A multiply-by-24 frequency multiplier chain is used to generate a 0.48-THz signal from a 20-GHz input signal. Two 0.48-THz push–push doublers are driven in quadrature for a differential output signal with a measured effective isotropic radiated power of up to -\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$-$$\\end{document}8.8 dBm at the transmitter at 0.47 THz. A differential subharmonic receiver mixer with a stacked quad topology achieves a measured system conversion gain of 7 dB and a measured single-sideband noise figure of 25.2 dB at 0.471 THz. FMCW radar measurements are performed using an on-board frequency source of a credit card-sized demonstrator at a bandwidth of 60 GHz.