This article presents a 250-GHz SiGe amplifier composed of three differential cascode stages in a 0.13-μm SiGe BiCMOS technology (fT/fMAX = 300/500 GHz). The Marchand balun is utilized to implement single-ended to differential signal transformation for its superior performance over the transformer-based balun at sub-THz frequencies, which has been investigated and verified through electromagnetic (EM) simulations. A stair-like interconnection method and conventional positive feedback technique are used to improve the inherent gain of the active device. The proposed amplifier exhibits a record S21 of 21.5 dB at 252 GHz and a 3-dB bandwidth of 11 GHz with the capability of gain control. The measured OP1dB is −3.7 dBm with the corresponding power added efficiency (PAE) of 0.3%, and the saturated output power is estimated to exceed 0 dBm at 252 GHz. The overall power consumption of the chip is 149 mW. Along with remarkable gain and output power, the compact amplifier is suitable to be adopted as an output block in the sub-THz transmitters.

中文翻译：

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用于亚太赫兹发射器的具有 21.5dB 增益的 250GHz 差分 SiGe 放大器

本文介绍了一个 250-GHz SiGe 放大器，它由采用 0.13-μm SiGe BiCMOS 技术 (fT/fMAX = 300/500 GHz) 的三个差分共源共栅级组成。Marchand 巴伦用于实现单端到差分信号转换，因为它在亚太赫兹频率下的性能优于基于变压器的巴伦，这已经通过电磁 (EM) 模拟进行了调查和验证。采用阶梯式互连方式和传统的正反馈技术来提高有源器件的固有增益。所提出的放大器在 252 GHz 下表现出 21.5 dB 的创纪录 S21 和 11 GHz 的 3 dB 带宽，并具有增益控制能力。测得的 OP1dB 为 -3.7 dBm，相应的功率附加效率 (PAE) 为 0.3%，饱和输出功率估计在 252 GHz 时超过 0 dBm。该芯片的总功耗为 149 mW。除了显着的增益和输出功率外，紧凑型放大器适合用作亚太赫兹发射机的输出模块。