A 30-GHz Integrated Subharmonic Mixer based on a Multichannel Graphene FET

A 30 GHz integrated subharmonic mixer based on a single graphene field effect transistor (G-FET) has been designed, fabricated and characterized. The mixer is realized in microstrip technology on a 250 um high resistivity silicon substrate. In order to enhance the current on-off ratio, the G-FET utilizes a channel consisting of an array of bow-tie structured graphene, yielding a current on-off ratio of 7. A conversion loss (CL) of 19 ± 1 dB over the frequency range of 24 to 31 GHz is obtained with an LO to RF isolation better than 20 dB at an LO power of 10 dBm. The overall minimum CL is 18 dB at 27 GHz. The mixer has a 3 GHz ±1-dB IF bandwidth, which is achieved with a fixed LO signal of 15 GHz. The mixer linearity is characterized and the highest third order intercept point is measured to be 12.8 dBm

Resistive Graphene FET Subharmonic Mixers: Noise and Linearity Assessment

We report on the first complete RF characterization of graphene field-effect transistor subharmonic resistive mixers in the frequency interval 2–5 GHz. The analysis includes conversion loss (CL), noise figure (NF), and intermodulation distortion. Due to an 8-nm thin Al2O3 gate dielectric, the devices operate at only 0 dBm of local oscillator (LO) power with an optimum measured CL in the range of 20–22 dB. The NF closely mimics the CL, thus determining the noise to be essentially thermal in origin, which is promising for cryogenic applications. The highest input third-order intercept point is measured to be 4.9 dBm at an LO power of 2 dBm

A compact 128-element Schottky diode grid frequency doubler generating 0.25 W of output power at 183 GHz

This paper presents a compact varactor grid frequency doubler encapsulated in a waveguide environment, thus providing single mode (H₁₀) waveguide connection at both input and output. Schottky diodes are used as varactors in this 128-element grid frequency doubler. By packaging the grid and its embedding network together with a stepped waveguide taper on the output, a module measuring 9 mm x 19 mm by 19 mm is created. A peak output power of 0.25 W is produced at 183 GHz with 1.32 W of input power and a corresponding conversion efficiency of 19%. The peak conversion efficiency is 23% at 183 GHz with 666 mW of input power

A broadband heterostructure barrier varactor tripler source

We present the first demonstration of a broadband Heterostructure Barrier Varactor tripler, designed to cover a major part of the WR-8 waveguide band. The source comprises a waveguide housing, a six-barrier InP-HBV diode flip-chip mounted on an AlN microstrip filter circuit. The conversion loss 3-dB bandwidth was measured to 17 % at a center frequency of 112 GHz. The maximum output power was more than 15 mW for an input power of 300 mW. There are no mechanical tuners or DC-bias, which simplifies assembly and allows for ultra-compact design

A Tunable 240–290 GHz Waveguide Enclosed 2-D Grid HBV Frequency Tripler

This paper presents a high-power 240–290 GHz waveguide enclosed two-dimensional (2-D) grid heterostructure barrier varactor (HBV) frequency multiplier. A 35 mW of output power is produced at 247 GHz with an input power of 900 mW. The operational bandwidth is tunable within a 50 GHz span by the use of an input tuner able to adjust the input matching of the 2-D grid HBV frequency multiplier. Tuning is achieved by moving a suspended dielectric slab in the input waveguide

A waveguide embedded 250 GHz quasi-optical frequency-tripler array

A waveguide embedded 250 GHz HBV-varactor quasi-optical multiplier array is presented. The module utilizes a mechanically compact and simple shim system, combining the large array power handling capability with the convenience of waveguide interfaced circuits. At the same time this approach offers excellent power and frequency scalability. The current tripler prototype produces a non saturated output power of 8 mW at 248 GHz during initial measurements at medium pump power

Millimetre-wave dielectric spectroscopy for cell analysis

A millimeter-wave sensor based on a CPW line has been designed and fabricated as a first prototype for impedance spectroscopy to be combined with a multifunctional micropipette for cell and membrane analysis. The first mm-wave measurement results show the sensitivity of the layout by distinguishing the cells from the media and monitoring the attachment process of the cells to the sensor surface. Measurements were performed on umbilical cord stem cells and cartilage thumb cells

Millimeter-wave sensor based on a λ/2-line resonator for identification and dielectric characterization of non-ionic surfactants

Studies of biological and artificial membrane systems, such as niosomes, currently rely on the use of fluorescent tags, which can influence the system under investigation. For this reason, the development of label-free, non-invasive detection techniques is of great interest. We demonstrate an open volume label-free millimeter-wave sensing platform based on a coplanar waveguide, developed for identification and characterization of niosome constituents. A design based on a λ/2-line resonator was used and on-wafer measurements of transmission and reflection parameters were performed up to 110 GHz. Our sensor was able to clearly distinguish between common niosome constituents, non-ionic surfactants Tween 20 and Span 80, measuring a resonance shift of 3 GHz between them. The complex permittivities of the molecular compounds have been extracted. Our results indicate insignificant frequency dependence in the investigated frequency range (3 GHz – 110 GHz). Values of permittivity around 3.0 + 0.7i and 2.2 + 0.4i were obtained for Tween 20 and Span 80, respectively

Vertically illuminated TW-UTC photodiodes for terahertz generation

More efficient and powerful continuous-wave photonic mixers as terahertz sources are motivated by the need of more versatile local oscillators for submillimeter/terahertz receiver systems. Uni-Travelling Carrier (UTC) photodiodes are very prospective candidates for reaching this objective, but so far only have been reported as lumped-elements or as edge-illuminated optical-waveguide travelling-wave (TW) devices. To overcome the associated power limitations of those implementations, we are developing a novel implementation of the UTC photodiodes which combines a traveling-wave photomixer with vertical velocity-matched illumination in a distributed structure. In this implementation called velocity-matched travelling-wave uni-travelling carrier photodiode, it is possible to obtain in-situ velocity matching of the beat-fringes of the two angled laser beams with the submm/THz-wave on the stripline. In this way, minimum frequency roll-off is achieved by tuning the angle between the two laser beams. A first design of these TW-UTC PDs from our Terahertz Photonics Laboratory at University of Chile has been micro-fabricated at the MC2 cleanroom facility at Chalmers Technical University