Design of a 520-624-GHz Amplifier-Frequency-Doubler Chain in 250-nm InP HBT Technology

Myeongjae Kim; Minseok Choi; Giyeong Nam; Wooyong Keum; Jae-Sung  Rieh

doi:10.23075/jicas.2025.11.1.007

Myeongjae Kim Department of Electrical Engineering, Korea University
Minseok Choi Department of Electrical Engineering, Korea University
Giyeong Nam Department of Electrical Engineering, Korea University
Wooyong Keum Department of Electrical Engineering, Korea University
Jae-Sung Rieh Department of Electrical Engineering, Korea University

DOI: https://doi.org/10.23075/jicas.2025.11.1.007

Keywords: 250-nm InP HBT, Frequency multiplier, Terahertz band

Abstract

In this study, an Amplifier-Frequency-Doubler Chain (AFDC) operating around 600 GHz has been designed based on 250-nm InP HBT technology. It consists of a 300-GHz drive amplifier followed by a 600-GHz frequency doubler. The drive amplifier adopts a four-stage cascode topology, in which a staggering matching scheme is used to achieve a wide bandwidth. Additionally, to saturate the subsequent frequency doubler, load-pull matching is adopted for the output matching of the amplifier. The frequency doubler is based on a push-push topology followed by an output matching network that helps to suppress the undesired fundamental and odd-order harmonics. The integrated AFDC exhibited a simulated peak output power of -8.4 dBm, with a 3-dB bandwidth of 104 GHz (520-624 GHz), or a fractional bandwidth of 20.7% at 0-dBm input power. The simulated total DC power consumption is 282.6 mW. The layout size is 1137 X 464 mm², including probing pads.

Author Biographies

Myeongjae Kim, Department of Electrical Engineering, Korea University

Myeong Jae Kim received the B.S. degree in electronic engineering from Korea University, Seoul, South Korea, in 2024, where he is currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree at the School of Electrical Engineering. His current research interests include frequency multipliers and wireless transceivers for terahertz radar.

Minseok Choi, Department of Electrical Engineering, Korea University

Min Seok Choi received the B.S. degree in electronic engineering from Korea University, Seoul, South Korea, in 2024, where he is currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree at the School of Electrical Engineering. His current research interests include mm-wave and sub-THz integrated circuits for radar systems.

Giyeong Nam, Department of Electrical Engineering, Korea University

Gi Yeong Nam received the B.S. degree and in electrical engineering from Dongguk University, Seoul, South Korea, in 2023. He is currently pursuing the M.S. degree in electrical and electronics engineering at Korea University, Seoul, South Korea. His research interest includes THz signal sources and oscillators.

Wooyong Keum, Department of Electrical Engineering, Korea University

Wooyong Keum received the B.S. degree in electronic engineering from Korea University, Seoul, South Korea, in 2021, where he is currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree at the School of Electrical Engineering. His current research interests include frequency synthesizers and wireless transceivers for terahertz radar.

Jae-Sung Rieh, Department of Electrical Engineering, Korea University

Jae Sung Rieh received the B.S. and M.S. degrees in electronics engineering from Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea, in 1991 and 1995, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA, in 1999. In 1999, he joined IBM Semiconductor R & D Center, where he was responsible

for the development of high frequency SiGe HBT technologies. Since 2004, he has been with the School of Electrical Engineering, Korea University, Seoul, Korea, where he is currently a Professor. In 2012 and 2018, he was a visiting scholar at Submillimeter Wave Advanced Technology team (SWAT) in JPL, Pasadena, USA, and at High Speed Electronics Lab (HSEL) in UCLA, Los Angeles, USA, respectively. His major research interest lies in the mm-wave and terahertz devices and circuits. Prof. Rieh was a recipient of IBM Faculty Award (2004) and a co-recipient of IEEE EDS George E. Smith Awards (2002 and 2006) and IEEE Microwave and Wireless Component Letters Tatsuo Itoh Best Paper Award (2013). He has served as an Associate Editor of the IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters (2006-2009) and the IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques (2010- 2013). He is the author of a book, “Introduction to Terahertz Electronics (Springer, 2021)” and a co-editor of a book, “Advances in Terahertz Source Technologies (Jenny Stanford Publishing, 2024)”

Homepage : https://hsisl.korea.ac.kr/