-Band Total Power Radiometer Performance Optimization in an SiGe HBT Technology

A -band SiGe HBT total power radiometer is reported with a peak responsivity of 28 MV/W, a noise equivalent power (NEP) of 14–18 fW/Hz , and a temperature resolution better than 0.35 K for an integration time of 3.125 ms. The noise corner of the radiometer is lower than 200Hz. Fabricated in a developmental technology with 270-GHz and 330-GHz , it includes a five-stage low-noise amplifier (LNA) with 4–7-GHz bandwidth and over 35 dB of gain centered at 165 GHz, along with a square-law detector with an NEP below 6 pW/Hz up to 170 GHz. An average system noise temperature of 1645 K is obtained using the -factormethod and a noise bandwidth of 10GHz calculated from the measured characteristics of the radiometer. The reduced noise corner frequency in the presence of the amplifier, compared to that of the detector, appears to indicate that, unlike in III–V radiometers, LNA gain fluctuations are not a problem in SiGe HBT radiometers. The circuit consumes 95 mW and occupies 765 490 m . Wafer mapping of the radiometer sensitivity and of the amplifier gain was performed across different process splits. The mapping results demonstrate that the radiometer can be employed as a relatively simple and area-efficient transistor noise-measure monitor, useful in SiGe HBT vertical profile optimization.

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