A 820GHz SiGe chipset for terahertz active imaging applications

The spatial resolution of microwave and mmWave imaging systems can be improved by an increase of their operating frequencies into the submillimeter-wave range (300GHz to 3THz). Electronic terahertz sources and receivers are presently dominated by III/V semiconductor and waveguide packaging technologies. Multipliers and mixers capable of an output power of 1.4mW at 875GHz [1], as well as a conversion loss of 9.25dB at 850GHz [2], have been demonstrated in remote sensing and radio astronomy applications. However, short-range active terahertz imaging systems exhibit less stringent link-budgets, thus opening up new opportunities for highly integrated low-cost silicon TX and RX front-ends. Previous circuit design examples include a 410GHz CMOS VCO in a 45nm technology capable of an output power of −47dBm [3], as well as a 650GHz subharmonic receiver with a 44dB noise figure [4]. In this paper, recent advances in SiGe HBT device technology [5] are used to demonstrate a 820GHz TX/RX chipset for active terahertz imaging applications.

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