An Integrated 200-GHz Graphene FET Based Receiver

Abstract

A receiver composed by a graphene FET 200-GHz mixer and a 1-GHz intermediate frequency amplifier integrated on a silicon substrate was modelled, fabricated and characterized. This is the first demonstration of a millimeter wave integrated receiver based on graphene FETs. The receiver conversion loss is measured to be 25 dB across the 185-205-GHz band with 16 dBm of local oscillator pump power, which is in good agreement with the circuit simulations. The simulations show that the receiver conversion loss can be significantly reduced to 16 dB by reducing the contact resistance and by realizing a higher charge carrier mobility in the mixer transistor.

330-500 GHz Graphene-Based Single-Stage High-Order Subharmonic Mixer

“…Finally, Table 3 summarizes a performance comparison between the described prototype and other recently reported graphene-based mixers capable of working above 100 GHz. References [32]- [34] describe MMIC circuits based on GFETs. Although they reported good conversion gain values, LO signals with frequency around 100 [33], [34] and 200 GHz [32], and power level between 8 and 16 dBm are used, requiring external high-performance frequency multipliers.…”

“…References [32]- [34] describe MMIC circuits based on GFETs. Although they reported good conversion gain values, LO signals with frequency around 100 [33], [34] and 200 GHz [32], and power level between 8 and 16 dBm are used, requiring external high-performance frequency multipliers. On the other hand, works [8] and [42] present subharmonic mixers based on macroscopic graphene sheets, following a design approach similar to that used in this work.…”

“…On the other hand, works [8] and [42] present subharmonic mixers based on macroscopic graphene sheets, following a design approach similar to that used in this work. When comparing with [32]- [34], the reached conversion gain is considerably reduced, but they use a LO signal located in the 26 − 40 GHz frequency band which, despite the required power level, is easier to obtain, since the power amplifier technology in the K a band is well established. This fact, combined with the single-stage topology and the use of simple manufacturing techniques, enables a drastic cost reduction.…”

“…The main drawback of this approach is the fact that the maximum working frequency of GFETs is strongly conditioned by their maximum oscillation frequency f max ≈ 40 GHz, limiting their use as active devices to the microwave band. Nevertheless, the use of GFET to implement subharmonic mixers [32]- [35] and signal detectors [36], [37] working in the submillimeter wave band has also been described. In this case, resistive mixer implementations are usually used to overcome the f max limitation, showing that they are able to downconvert RF signals at frequencies up to f RF = 400 GHz.…”

Wide bandwidth terahertz mixers based on graphene FETs

“…However, the circuit design and fabrication of the wide bandwidth THz mixers are challenging tasks. In recent years, it was shown that the graphene field-effect transistors (GFETs), owing to their linear output characteristics and relatively high carrier mobility, have a great potential for development of the GFET based high-frequency mixers [3][4][5]. But most of the demonstrated GFET mixers reveals rather narrow RF and/or IF bandwidths [6].…”