A +14.2 dBm, 90-140 GHz Wideband Frequency Tripler in 250-nm InP DHBT Technology

A single-chip active frequency tripler circuit with output at F-band (90-140 GHz) is presented. A common-emitter transistor stage with input and output matching circuits is used to produce the third harmonic, followed by a five-pole bandpass filter and a wideband four-stage power amplifier to amplify and increase the output power. The circuit is implemented in a 250-nm InP double-heterostructure bipolar transistor technology with ft/fmax 350/650 GHz, respectively. The chip achieves a peak output power of 14.2 dBm from 99 to 126 GHz at 2-dBm input power and conversion gain of 13 dB at -2-dBm input power. The measured 3-dB output bandwidth is 51 GHz from 90 to 141 GHz which corresponds to 44.2% relative bandwidth. It demonstrates up to 23-dBc rejection ratio of the first and the second harmonics. The dc power consumption is 156 mW at 2-dBm input power. The chip size is 0.9 × 0.96 mm2 including pads and achieves a power efficiency of 16.7%.