Millimeter-Wave and THz Circuits in 45-nm SOI CMOS

Abstract

This paper presents low-noise amplifiers (LNA) at 45¿C95 GHz, a frequency doubler at 180 GHz, active and passive mixers at 130¿C180 GHz fabricated in 45-nm Semiconductor-On-Insulator (SOI) CMOS process for digital and mixed-signal applications. The measured ft and fmax of a 30¡A1-¿Im transistor are 200 GHz at 0.3 mA/¿Im current density, referenced to the top metal layer. The measured gain and NF of LNAs are 15¿C11 dB and 3.3¿C6.0 dB at 45¿C95 GHz. The balanced doubler results in an output power of 1 mW and 8 dB conversion loss at 180 GHz. Passive double-balanced and active single-balanced mixers achieve conversion loss of 12¿C13 dB at 130¿C180 GHz, and 4 dB with 3-dB bandwidth of 145¿C161 GHz, respectively. This work shows that 45-nm SOI CMOS process results in state-of-the-art performance for millimeter-wave applications.