Monolithic Frequency Research Articles

Frequency Response of Electronically Tunable Current-Mode Third Order High Pass and Low Pass Filter for Q = 10

The circuits using current-mode (CM) building blocks have received considerable attention in many filtering and signal processing applications. Compared to their voltage-mode(VM) counterparts, the current-mode building blocks are attractive because of their wider bandwidth, higher slew rate, and lower power consumptions. In IC technology, it is desirable to operate circuits at low voltages which can be achieved by using CM building blocks. As a large number of op-amp based circuits with elegant realization procedures are already available, it is worthwhile to convert them into the circuits based on current-mode building blocks. In this paper, a realization of a current mode third order high pass and low pass filter is described. The proposed circuit employs operational amplifier as the basic building unit. The filter circuit realizes quadratic work function. It provides electronically tuning capability of the filter characteristics. The proposed circuit works ideal for Center frequency fo= 10 k and Circuit merit factor Q > 1. The gain roll-off this configuration is 18dB/octave. The circuit is suitable for monolithic integration and high frequency operation. The filters developed were successful in obtaining passive sensitivities less than unity in magnitude and active sensitivities are half in magnitude, which is a noteworthy achievement. The circuit is suitable for high frequency operation and monolithic integration.

An 840 GHz Monolithic Improved Balanced Frequency Tripler

This paper reports an 840 GHz monolithic frequency tripler based on 25-μm GaAs membrane and planar Schottky diode. An improved balanced structure is proposed and used in the circuit, which can provide an excellently balanced RF path. An electromagnetic model of planar Schottky diodes is established based on physical characteristics for accurate simulation of frequency tripler. At a 10 dB m input power, the improved structure increases the conversion efficiency from 3.57% to 5.82%, and enhances the output power from -4.47 dB m to -2.35 dB m. Among the frequency range of 839 GHz to 849 GHz, the conversion efficiency is typically greater than 3%.

Monolithic frequency comb platform based on interband cascade lasers and detectors

New insights into the laser dynamics of interband cascade lasers reveal the possibility to generate frequency-modulated combs by utilizing their inherent gain nonlinearity. The resulting comb state is characterized by chirped instantaneous frequency, which appears to be universal to frequency combs based on gain-induced four-wave mixing. The fast dynamics in the injectors further allow the realization of exceptionally sensitive and high-speed photodetectors, operating at room temperature, using the very same epilayer structure. With the capability of integrating frequency combs and ultra-fast detectors on a single chip consuming less than a watt of electric power, interband cascade laser technology provides a complete and unmatched platform for future monolithic and battery-driven dual-comb spectrometers.

Fully-resonant, tunable, monolithic frequency conversion as a coherent UVA source.

We demonstrate a monolithic frequency converter incorporating up to four tuning degrees of freedom, three temperature and one strain, allowing resonance of pump and generated wavelengths simultaneous with optimal phase-matching. With a Rb-doped periodically-poled potassium titanyl phosphate (KTP) implementation, we demonstrate efficient continuous-wave second harmonic generation from 795 to 397, with low-power efficiency of 72% and high-power slope efficiency of 4.5%. The measured performance shows good agreement with theoretical modeling of the device. We measure optical bistability effects, and show how they can be used to improve the stability of the output against pump frequency and amplitude variations.

600 GHz InP HBT frequency multiplier

A 600 GHz monolithic frequency multiplier circuit fabricated using 0.25 μm InP HBT (heterojunction bipolar technology) technology is reported. The multiplier uses two 6 μm finger devices in common-base push–push configuration to obtain extremely simple matching networks. Measurements using on-wafer RF probes indicate maximum output power of −8.3 dBm at 590 GHz with a wide operation bandwidth of better than 50 GHz.

A 330–500 GHz Zero-Biased Broadband Tripler Based on Terahertz Monolithic Integrated Circuits

A 330–500 GHz zero-biased broadband monolithic integrated tripler is reported. The measured results show that the maximum efficiency and the maximum output power are 2% and 194 μW at 348 GHz. The saturation characteristic test shows that the output 1 dB compression point is about −8.5 dBm at 334 GHz and the maximum efficiency is obtained at the point, which is slightly below the 1 dB compression point. Compared with the conventional hybrid integrated circuit, a major advantage of the monolithic integrated circuit is the significant improvement of reliability and consistency. In this work, a terahertz monolithic frequency multiplier at this band is designed and fabricated.

A W-band monolithic broadwidth frequency multiplier on millimeter Schottky diode and metamaterial

A millimeter GaAs-based planar Schottky varactor diode and corresponding equivalent large signal circuit model have been successfully developed to design and fabricate a W-band broadwidth monolithic frequency multiplier based on 5-unit composite left/right handed nonlinear transmission lines. The small signal and large signal characteristics of the frequency multiplier are numerically analyzed and discussed in detail. The frequency multiplier shows a large second harmonic bandwidth due to the anomalous dispersion determined by the structure parameters of the left-handed nonlinear metamaterial. The measured maximum output power of the second harmonic of 77.6 GHz is 6.7 dBm in the frequency range from 75 to 80 GHz is obtained when a 20-dBm fundamental signal of 38.8 GHz is fed to the frequency multiplier biased at 0 V. It is demonstrated experimentally and numerically, the possibility to apply composite left/right handed nonlinear transmission lines to generate W-band or higher millimeter-wave frequency signal source by frequency multiplication. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 57:525–530, 2015

百瓦级全光纤结构单频掺铥主振荡功率放大器

百瓦级全光纤结构单频掺铥主振荡功率放大器

W-band push—push monolithic frequency doubler in 1-μm InP DHBT technology

A W-band frequency doubler MMIC is designed and fabricated using 1-μm InP DHBT technology. Active balun is employed to transform the single-ended signal into differential output. Push—push configuration loaded with harmonic resonant network is utilized to acquire the second harmonic frequency. A multi-stage differential structure improves the conversion gain and suppresses the fundamental frequency. The MMIC occupies an area of 0.55 × 0.5 mm2 with 18 DHBTs integrated. Measurements show that the output power is above 5.8 dBm with the suppression of fundamental frequency below −16 dBc and the conversion gain above 4.7 dB over 75–80 GHz.

Design and integration of HTS filters with a Josephson device

A high-temperature superconducting (HTS) Josephson frequency down-converting module is demonstrated. An HTS monolithic frequency down-converting circuit and a biasing circuit board for the Josephson device are packaged into the module. The monolithic circuit consists of HTS filters and a Josephson oscillator-mixer device, integrated on a single 10 mm × 20 mm chip of Y Ba2Cu3O7−x (YBCO) film on MgO substrate. A compact, low-loss HTS step-impedance low-pass filter was designed for the intermediate frequency (IF) output port. The modeling, simulation and measurement results of the HTS low-pass filter are presented in this paper. The frequency response and dynamic range of the on-chip integrated HTS down-converting module are also described.

Observation of phase noise reduction in photonically synthesized sub-THz signals using a passively mode-locked laser diode and highly selective optical filtering

A Continuous Wave (CW) sub-THz photonic synthesis setup based on a single Passively Mode-Locked Laser Diode (PMLLD) acting as a monolithic Optical Frequency Comb Generator (OFCG) and highly selective optical filtering has been implemented to evaluate the phase noise performance of the generated sub-THz signals. The analysis of the synthesized sub-THz signals up to 120 GHz gives as a result an effective reduction of the electrical linewidth when compared to direct harmonic generation that begins at 50 GHz and becomes greater as the frequency increases. The phase noise reduction offered by the setup, along with its integration potential, cost and bandwidth, make it a promising candidate to the development of an integrated and high performance low phase noise local oscillator in the sub-THz range.

A k-band broadband monolithic distributed frequency multiplier based on nonlinear transmission line

A fabrication technology of GaAs planar Schottky varactor diode (PSVD) is successfully developed and used to design and manufacture GaAs-based monolithic frequency multiplication based on 23-section nonlinear transmission lines (NLTLs) consisting of a coplanar waveguide transmission line and periodically distributed PSVDs. The throughout design and optimization procedure of 23-section monolithic NLTLs for frequency multiplication in the k-band range is based on a large signal equivalent model of PSVD extracted from small-signal S-parameter measurements. This paper reports that the distributed SPVD exhibits a capacitance ratio of 5.4, a normalized capacitance of 0.86 fF/μm2 and a breakdown voltage in excess of 22 V. The integrated 23-section NLTLs fed by 20-dBm input power demonstrates a 26-GHz peak second harmonic output power of 14-dBm with 25.3% conversion efficiency in the second harmonic output frequency range of 6 GHz–26 GHz.

Millimeter-Wave Frequency Doubler With Transistor Grounded-Shielding Structure in ${\hbox {0.13-}}\mu{\hbox {m}}$ SiGe BiCMOS Technology

A low conversion-loss monolithic frequency doubler has been developed for D-band signal generation in 0.13-μm SiGe BiCMOS technology. The circuit uses a single-transistor topology with a novel grounded-shielding structure, which can efficiently reduce the parasitic feedback effect between collector and base of a HBT to achieve frequency multiplication. The measurement results show that the doubler exhibits minimum ~3.2-dB conversion loss at the output frequency of 134 GHz with the efficiency of ~5.8% and maximum -1.4-dBm second-harmonic output power at the output frequency of 132 GHz with the efficiency of ~7%, respectively. Moreover, both input and output return loss are better than 10 dB for the input frequency from 64 to 69 GHz and the corresponding doubled output frequency range. In addition, the estimated rejection of the fundamental signal is better than 20 dB.

High-efficiency Ka band microwave monolithic integrated circuit frequency tripler using lumped-element balun

This work describes a lumped-element balun for use in a miniature, coplanar waveguide frequency tripler pseudomorphic high electron mobility transistor microwave monolithic integrated circuit. The measurement results of the balun show a 1-dB gain balance and a 10 degrees phase balance from 11.6 to 13 GHz. It was used in the design of a 36-GHz monolithic tripler at the input port. A resonant inductor and capacitor (LC) filter was used to eliminate the fundamental frequency and a phase delay line was employed to enhance the third harmonic in the tripler. At 36 GHz, the tripler achieved as minimum conversion loss of 6.7 dB at an input power of 13 dBm; the suppressions of the fundamental and second harmonic frequencies were 24 and 27 dB, respectively.

Cascade controller with sliding-mode-voltage and current-mode for monolithic high frequency DC–DC converters

Modern control theories such as fuzzy control, sliding-mode control, optimal control, neural network control have been widely used in discrete-switching DC---DC converters, While they are seldom used in monolithic integration. Under parameter variation, large supply and load disturbance, high slew-rate current transient, high nonlinearity in today and future power management integrated circuits, linear control theories used in traditional monolithic DC---DC converters cannot satisfy required performance, which make it stringent to use modern control theories in monolithic DC---DC converters. This paper proposes cascade controller which consists of PWM based sliding-mode-voltage control and current-mode control for high frequency DC---DC converters. As long as the dynamic responses of the inner current loop are much faster than the outer sliding-mode-voltage loop, inner and outer loops operate in cascade-mode functionally. This work leads to an easy-to-follow design procedure to design control coefficients. To illustrate the feasibility of the scheme, a monolithic 100 MHz boost DC---DC converter using cascade controller with sliding-mode-voltage and current-mode is designed in SMIC 0.18 μm CMOS process. Several simulations are performed to validate the functionalities of the controller.

A Millimeter Wave Phase Locked and Frequency Multiplying Source

A millimeter wave phase locked and frequency multiplying source is proposed in this paper. The design includes an X-band phase locked loop (PLL) frequency synthesizer as the base frequency source, and a monolithic millimeter wave frequency tripler, which is developed by using OMMIC 0.18μm pHEMT process. The PLL and the tripler are integrated in a single circuit board to make a low-cost and compact frequency source with the size of 6cm × 5cm. Measurement shows an output power of more than 4.8dBm at the frequency range from 35 to 36.7GHz. A phase noise of about -92dBc/Hz at 100kHz offset is achieved.

A monolithic sigma-delta fractional-N frequency synthesizer with implicit dual-path filter and phase switching multi-modulus frequency divider

A fully integrated Sigma-delta fractional-N frequency synthesizer is realized in TSMC 0.18 μm MM/RF 1P6M Salicide 1.8V/3.3V technology. The proposed implicit dual-path loop filter with enhanced trans-conductor can eliminate the charge pump mismatch of the conventional dual-path loop filter and suppress the effect of parasitic poles and zero as well as reduce the area of the loop filter. A simple frequency divider based on phase switching technique is employed to reduce the area and power dissipation. The frequency synthesizer consumes 21 MW power from 1.8 V power supply voltage with area 1.80 × 2.0 mm2. The achieved phase noise is ?82 dBc/Hz at 10 kHz offset, ?108 dBc/Hz at 100 kHz offset and ?128 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz offset respectively with frequency switching time 95 μs.

Frequency Tunable Microstrip Patch Antenna Using RF MEMS Technology

A novel reconfigurable microstrip patch antenna is presented that is monolithically integrated with RF microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) capacitors for tuning the resonant frequency. Reconfigurability of the operating frequency of the microstrip patch antenna is achieved by loading it with a coplanar waveguide (CPW) stub on which variable MEMS capacitors are placed periodically. MEMS capacitors are implemented with surface micromachining technology, where a 1-mum thick aluminum structural layer is placed on a glass substrate with a capacitive gap of 1.5 mum. MEMS capacitors are electrostatically actuated with a low tuning voltage in the range of 0-11.9 V. The antenna resonant frequency can continuously be shifted from 16.05 GHz down to 15.75 GHz as the actuation voltage is increased from 0 to 11.9 V. These measurement results are in good agreement with the simulation results obtained with Ansoft HFSS. The radiation pattern is not affected from the bias voltage. This is the first monolithic frequency tunable microstrip patch antenna where a CPW stub loaded with MEMS capacitors is used as a variable load operating at low dc voltages

High-Efficiency>tex<$W$>/tex<-Band GaAs Monolithic Frequency Multipliers

High efficiency monolithic frequency multipliers have been designed, fabricated, and tested in the W-band. In microwave monolithic integrated circuits (MMICs), transmission lines with various impedances are used not only to transfer the input and output signals, but also to match the impedances of active devices to those of the input and output ports, with open and/or short stubs. Thus, loss in the transmission lines is one of the major limiting factors on circuit efficiencies. This paper presents high-efficiency MMIC frequency doublers with a balanced pair of GaAs Schottky barrier planar diodes operating in the W-band. The geometries of transmission lines were optimized to reduce the loss and thus to improve the efficiency. The demonstrated efficiency of 36.1% is the highest efficiency reported for a diode-based MMIC frequency multiplier in the W-band.

A broadband self‐biased monolithic frequency doubler for X‐band application

AbstractA broadband monolithic single‐ended active frequency doubler fed by a single positive DC power supply is presented. The effects of the self‐bias approach on the doubler performances are investigated and a design method is proposed. Measured performances demonstrate the competitiveness of the proposed circuit with respect to more traditional doublers. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 37: 67–69, 2003; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.10827