Signal Generation Techniques in CMOS for Millimeter-Wave and Terahertz Applications

Abstract

This paper presents the design of three millimeter-wave and terahertz signal sources that demonstrates the feasibility of high performance signal source implemented in CMOS. A triple-push oscillator consisted of two antiparallel LC ring oscillators is presented with a low phase noise of -88 dBc/Hz at 1-MHz offset and a peak output power of -6 dBm at 210 GHz in a 90-nm CMOS process. An injection locked quadruple-push oscillator is then presented with a simulated output power of -16.3 dBm at 336 GHz and phase noise of -88 dBc/Hz at fundamental frequency in a 90-nm CMOS process. Lastly, a 330-GHz subharmonic injection locked frequency synthesizer is proposed. The core oscillator is based on the triple-push architecture. The frequency synthesizer achieves a simulated locking range of 5 GHz at 330 GHz with an output power of -8.6 dBm in a 40-nm CMOS process.