A V-Band SiGe Image-Reject Receiver Front-End for Atmospheric Remote Sensing

This paper presents a V-band receiver front-end for spaceborne atmospheric remote sensing. The receiver is implemented in a $\mathbf{0.13}\mu\mathbf{m}$ SiGe BiCMOS technology with $f_{T}/f_{MAX}$ of 250/330 GHz and consists of a Dicke switch, an LNA, an image-reject mixer, a frequency multiplier, and an IF amplifier. Across 56–69 GHz, the receiver achieves a mean conversion gain of 65 dB, a minimum noise figure of 4.3/6.1 dB without/with the Dicke switch, and a mean image rejection ratio of 31dB. The high-gain frequency quadrupler allows operation with an LO power as low as −18 dBm. This chip consumes a total DC power of 180 mW and occupies an active area of 3.1 mm2. This is the first reported monolithic receiver front-end for atmospheric measurements across the 60 GHz oxygen spectrum and it achieves the lowest noise figure among similar Si-based Dicke radiometers.