Schottky Barrier Diodes for Millimeter Wave SiGe BiCMOS Applications

Rassel, R.; Johnson, J. B.; Orner, B.; Reynolds, Scott; Dahlstrom, M.; Rascoe, J.; Joseph, A.J.; Gaucher, B.; Dunn, J.; Onge, St.

doi:10.1109/bipol.2006.311167

Cited by 17 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…When choosing the diode size, the conversion-loss degradation factor [2] is a helpful guiding parameter where R s is the series resistance, Z s is the real diode junctions RF input resistance, and f c = 1/2 πR s C j is the cutoff frequency. Increasing the diode area will decrease the series resistance, but increase the junction capacitance, C j , in such a manner that the cutoff frequency will decrease [13]. But as the RF frequency is low compared to f c , a larger diode will give better conversion-loss degradation factor as the last term of (2) will be almost negligible.…”

Section: Design Of Mixer With Tunable Balunmentioning

confidence: 99%

An X-band Schottky diode mixer in SiGe technology with tunable Marchand balun

Michaelsen

Johansen

Tamborg³

et al. 2016

Int. J. Microw. Wireless Technol.

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In this paper, we propose a double balanced mixer with a tunable Marchand balun. The circuit is designed in a SiGe BiCMOS process using Schottky diodes. The tunability of the Marchand balun is used to enhance critical parameters for double balanced mixers. The local oscillator-IF isolation can be changed from -51 to -60.5 dB by tuning. Similarly, the IIP 2 can be improved from 41.3 to 48.7 dBm at 11 GHz, while the input referred 1-dB compression point is kept constant at 8 dBm. The tuning have no influence on conversion loss, which remains at 8.8 dB at a LO power level of 11 dBm at the center frequency of 11 GHz. The mixer has a 3 dB bandwidth from 8 to 13 GHz, covering the entire X-band. The full mixer has a size of 2050 mm × 1000 mm. . This overcomes the problem with image frequency channel and leaves only the desired signal, directly at baseband. Mixers for direct conversion are also used in Doppler radars, as the direct conversion architecture gives the Doppler shift directly from the received frequency. Mixers for direct conversion have the drawback that the radio frequency (RF) and local oscillator (LO) frequencies are at the same frequency, thus good isolation between the ports is important as filtering is not possible. Also, as the output frequency is low, flicker or 1/f noise might be a problem.The double balanced mixer ideally provides infinite isolation between all ports and is therefore a good choice to use as a mixer for direct conversion. Other benefits of the double balanced mixer are rejection of LO noise and high linearity [2]. The balancing circuits should, to get full benefit of the double balanced architecture, be well adjusted. This is challenging to achieve in practice due to process and manufacturing variances.To utilize the broadband nature of the double balanced mixer, the balun should also be broadband otherwise the bandwidth of the mixer will be limited. The Marchand balun [3] is in itself very broadband, and it is commonly used for this reason in a planar [4][5][6] or lumped-distributed [7][8][9] implementation. In [10] we presented a Marchand balun with tunable phase balance, and in [11, 12] we presented a broad band double balanced mixer using diode connected heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) together with lumped Marchand baluns on RF and LO ports. The mixer design presented here integrates the tunable Marchand balun on the LO-port together with Schottky diodes for the mixing core. This allows to correct for any mismatches either in the balun design or in the mixing core itself. This should then enhance the benefits of practical implementations of double balanced mixers, where our focus will be on the properties important for direct conversion mixing, i.e. port isolation and linearity. To the author's knowledge a double balanced ring mixer with balance corrections using a tunable balun is demonstrated here for the first time. I I . D E S I G N O F M I X E R W I T H T U N A B L E B A L U NThis section gives a description of the design of the circuitry. First a description ...

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Section: Design Of Mixer With Tunable Balunmentioning

confidence: 99%

An X-band Schottky diode mixer in SiGe technology with tunable Marchand balun

Michaelsen

Johansen

Tamborg³

et al. 2016

Int. J. Microw. Wireless Technol.

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“…Schottky diodes can also be used in modern SiGe BiCMOS technologies and they enable the generation and detection of higher frequencies on the same chip with high-performance amplifiers and oscillators. The diodes are fabricated using a buried n1 layer and cobalt salicidation of epi-grown n-type silicon; their integration with cut-off frequencies beyond 1 THz in a 130-nm BiCMOS is presented in [18].…”

Section: Power Detectorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrated Test for Silicon Front Ends

Kissinger

Laemmle

Maurer³

et al. 2010

IEEE Microwave

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O ngoing developments in integrated circuit (IC) technology have resulted in fully integrated monolithic systems-on-chip (SoC). The state of the art of today's silicon-based semiconductor technologies, such as the silicon-germanium heterojunction bipolar transistor (SiGe HBT) and the silicon metal-oxide-semiconductor fi eld-effect transistor (MOSFET), allow for the low-cost fabrication of transceiver front-end circuitry with operating frequencies even above 100 GHz [1]. These key elements of silicon high-frequency semiconductor electronics have opened the door for the millimeter-wave consumer market in communication technology and sensor applications.After they are manufactured, RF and millimeterwave frontends and SoCs have to be tested for correct functionality and performance before they are passed on to the consumer. Testing of high-frequency blocks in radio-frequency integrated circuits (RFICs) is a complex, time-consuming, and costly task for engineers. External tests necessitate expensive, high-performance

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“…Several silicon-based processes provide an option of a very fast Schottky diode with cut-off frequencies up to terahertz [3]. However, in other processes this option might not be available.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%