This article presents a fully integrated first downconversion stage for a superheterodyne receiver for high data rate communication at 300 GHz. It comprises a frequency multiplier-by-three, an active dual-gate downconverter, and an LNA. The chip was fabricated in a 35-nm InGaAs-based metamorphic high-electron-mobility transistor technology. The downconverter was designed to be used for different local oscillator (LO) frequencies between 70 and 80 GHz and intermediate frequency (IF) frequencies from 65 to 95 GHz, to create multiple channels for real-time full-duplex communication in the terahertz region. It achieves a conversion gain of 14 dB without IF amplification and 3-dB bandwidth of 25 GHz in the desired upper sideband from 288 to 313 GHz and an estimated NF of 6.6 dB. Without the LNA, the conversion gain of the circuit is $-$ 10 dB and it shows 3-dB bandwidth of 38 GHz in a frequency range from 281 to 319 GHz. Finally, the millimeter-wave monolithic integrated circuit (MMIC) will be compared in detail to a similar state-of-the-art downconverter using a resistive mixer and a necessary additional LO buffer stage in the same technology targeting the identical application. While exhibiting a better conversion gain and bandwidth and occupying only 40% of chip area, the presented downconverter consumes 70% less dc power than the MMIC with a resistive mixer.

中文翻译：

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适用于超外差式通信接收器的紧凑型281–319 GHz低功率下变频器MMIC

本文介绍了用于300 GHz高数据速率通信的超外差接收机的完全集成的第一个下变频级。它包括一个三乘倍频器，一个有源双栅极下变频器和一个LNA。该芯片采用基于35nm InGaAs的变质高电子迁移率晶体管技术制造。下变频器设计用于70至80 GHz之间的不同本机振荡器（LO）频率和65至95 GHz的中频（IF）频率，以创建多个通道用于太赫兹区域的实时全双工通信。在288至313 GHz的所需上边带中，它无需IF放大即可实现14 dB的转换增益和25 GHz的3 dB带宽，并且估计NF为6.6 dB。没有LNA，电路的转换增益为$-$ 10 dB，它显示了在281至319 GHz频率范围内38 GHz的3 dB带宽。最后，将毫米波单片集成电路（MMIC）与采用电阻混频器和必要的附加LO缓冲级的类似最新技术下变频器进行详细比较，该技术针对相同的应用。虽然展现出更好的转换增益和带宽，并且仅占据芯片面积的40％，但与带有电阻混频器的MMIC相比，所提供的下变频器消耗的直流功率要少70％。