Ku-band to F-band active multiplier chain in 65-nm CMOS

Abstract

A compact single chip X9 frequency multiplier from Ku-band to F-band implemented in 65-nm CMOS is presented. A chain of transformer coupled stages is used, including two triplers, realized with differential cascode stages, Q-band and F-band amplifiers. The circuit reaches saturated output power of +6.3 dBm at 124 GHz with a 10% bandwidth from 117 to 129.3 GHz. The suppression of unwanted harmonics is better than 25 dBc across the bandwidth. The core design occupies and consumes 328 mW from a 1.2 V DC supply. Supply voltage increased to 1.4 V yields a peak output power of +8 dBm with DC consumption of 376 mW. The presented design achieves high output power and wide bandwidth with high integration level compared to state-of-the-art at F-band.