Frequency doublers with 10.2/5.2 dBm peak power at 100/202 GHz in 45nm SOI CMOS

Abstract

This paper presents frequency doublers with high output power for millimeter-wave applications. The circuits are fabricated using a 45nm SOI CMOS technology. A new circuit topology, combining a push-push doubler core with a cascaded stacked amplifier, has been implemented to increase the output power. The first doubler delivers 10.2 dBm peak power at 100 GHz output, with a 3-dB bandwidth from 88 to 104 GHz and DC-RF efficiency of 4.1%, while the second doubler has 5.2 dBm peak power at 202 GHz, with a 3-dB bandwidth from 180 to 212 GHz and DC-RF efficiency of 3.3%. To the authors' knowledge, these are the highest powers reported for silicon frequency doublers in similar frequency ranges to date. The 200 GHz doubler also provides the highest on-chip power from a single-element signal generation circuit without power combining.