Efficient Microwave and Millimeter-Wave Frequency Multipliers Using Nonlinear Transmission Lines in CMOS Technology

Abstract

Frequency multipliers are an attractive solution for signal generation in CMOS near and above cutoff frequencies of active devices. This work focuses on nonlinear transmission line (NLTL) based frequency multipliers, which can be employed for high output power and broadband operation. The performance of an NLTL-based multiplier is limited by the phase mismatch at frequencies of interest caused by dispersion. We propose an alternate NLTL and engineer dispersion to eliminate phase mismatch between desired harmonics. We build two prototypes. First, a 20-GHz frequency doubler is implemented in a 65-nm CMOS process. Second, to show the feasibility of our approach near , a 100-GHz frequency tripler is demonstrated in a 130-nm CMOS process ( GHz). The achieved conversion loss is 3.5 and 12.2 dB for the doubler and tripler, respectively. The frequency tripler generates maximum power of 1.5 dBm. The relative bandwidth of the doubler and tripler is about 23% and 12.3%, respectively. To the best of our knowledge, the frequency tripler outperforms any previously reported work implemented in a 130-nm CMOS at or above 100 GHz in terms of output power and bandwidth.Index Terms-Active loading, CMOS, frequency conversion, frequency doubler, frequency multiplier, frequency tripler, microwave, millimeter wave, nonlinear transmission lines (NLTLs), varactor. 0018-9480

Recent Advances and Applications of Passive Harmonic RFID Systems: A Review

“…Naturally, it is common to find GaAs diode-based harmonic generators operating from hundreds of GHz to few THz [ 50 , 51 ]. In recent days, with significant process miniaturization down to 65 nm and beyond, it has become possible to realize frequency multipliers even beyond 100 GHz using silicon substrate [ 52 , 53 ].…”

“…One such structure is called the nonlinear transmission line (NLTL). The NLTL can be a continuous co-planar waveguide (CPW) line on a semiconductor substrate with discrete metal-semiconductor junction diodes [ 52 , 54 ], or distributed configuration using a metal-semiconductor junction on GaAs substrate [ 55 ], or discrete inductor and varactor diode structure fabricated monolithically [ 38 ], or discrete inductor and varactor diode structure fabricated on a PCB using discrete packaged components [ 56 ]. As the maximum bandwidth is dictated by the NLTL cut-off frequency, a monolithic fabrication would provide the most operational bandwidth as high as 20–30 GHz [ 54 ].…”

A Review of Nonlinear Transmission Line System Design

“…A frequency doubler and tripler were fabricated using CMOS processing to generate 20 GHz and 100 GHz, respectively. The 100 GHz tripler produced 0.7 W and a 12.2 dB bandwidth [43]. Table 1 summarizes the studies that evaluate lumped element NLTLs.…”

A new method for analyzing non-uniform guiding structures

“…The non-uniform Transmission lines are widely used in numerous applications such as electrical resonators 1 , hybrid amplifiers 2 , frequency synthesizers 3 , pulse shaping circuits 4 , antenna array beamforming networks 5 , and coupled microstrip lines 6 . Transmission lines made of the non-uniform profile are classified into two groups.…”