An MMIC chip set for a V-band phase-locked local oscillator

Abstract

A V-band full-monolithic voltage-controlled local oscillator (LO) chip set has been developed to realize a millimeter-wave synthesizer. The LO is composed of only two MMIC chips: one is a highly integrated multi-function MMIC for 15 GHz voltage-controlled oscillation and 15-30 GHz frequency doubling, and the other is for 30-60 GHz frequency doubling. Output power of 3.5 dBm/spl plusmn/1.5 dB and tuning performance of 55.6 to 60.3 GHz with SSB phase noise of less than -80 dBc/Hz @1 MHz offset are obtained. Each circuit is greatly reduced in size by using a uniplanar structure resulting in a total chip area of only 5.5 mm/sup 2/. To our knowledge, this is the most compact MMIC chip set for a V-band phase-locked oscillator.