A 330-500 GHz Zero-Biased Broadband Tripler Based on Terahertz Monolithic Integrated Circuits

A 330-500 GHz zero-biased broadband monolithic integrated tripler is reported. The measured results show that the maximum efficiency and the maximum output power are 2% and 194μW at 348 GHz. The saturation characteristic test shows that the output i dB compression point is about -8.5 dBm at 334 GHz and the maximum efficiency is obtained at the point, which is slightly below the 1 dB compression point. Compared with the conventional hybrid integrated circuit, a major advantage of the monolithic integrated circuit is the significant improvement of reliability and consistency. In this work, a terahertz monolithic frequency multiplier at this band is designed and fabricated.

A G-band terahertz monolithic integrated amplifier in 0.5-μm InP double heterojunction bipolar transistor technology

Design and characterization of a G-band（140–220 GHz） terahertz monolithic integrated circuit（TMIC） amplifier in eight-stage common-emitter topology are performed based on the 0.5-μm In Ga As/In P double heterojunction bipolar transistor（DHBT）. An inverted microstrip line is implemented to avoid a parasitic mode between the ground plane and the In P substrate. The on-wafer measurement results show that peak gains are 20 dB at 140 GHz and more than 15-dB gain at 140–190 GHz respectively. The saturation output powers are-2.688 dBm at 210 GHz and-2.88 dBm at 220 GHz,respectively. It is the first report on an amplifier operating at the G-band based on 0.5-μm InP DHBT technology. Compared with the hybrid integrated circuit of vacuum electronic devices, the monolithic integrated circuit has the advantage of reliability and consistency. This TMIC demonstrates the feasibility of the 0.5-μm InGaAs/InP DHBT amplifier in G-band frequencies applications.

Optimization of terahertz monolithic integrated frequency multiplier based on trap-assisted physics model of THz Schottky barrier varactor

The optimization of high power terahertz monolithic integrated circuit (TMIC) is systemically studied based on the physical model of the Schottky barrier varactor (SBV) with interface defects and tunneling effect. An ultra-thin dielectric layer is added to describe the extra tunneling effect and the damping of thermionic emission current induced by the interface defects. Power consumption of the dielectric layer results in the decrease of capacitance modulation ration (Cmax/Cmin), and thus leads to poor nonlinear C–V characteristics. The proposed Schottky metal-brim (SMB) terminal structure could improve the capacitance modulation ration by reducing the influence of the interface charge and eliminating the fringing capacitance effect. Finally, a 215 GHz tripler TMIC is fabricated based on the SMB terminal structure. The output power is above 5 mW at 210–218 GHz and the maximum could exceed 10 mW at 216 GHz, which could be widely used in terahertz imaging, radiometers, and so on. This paper also provides theoretical support for the SMB structure to optimize the TMIC performance.

A monolithic distributed phase shifter based on right-handed nonlinear transmission lines at 30 GHz

The epitaxial material, device structure, and corresponding equivalent large signal circuit model of GaAs planar Schottky varactor diode are successfully developed to design and fabricate a monolithic phase shifter, which is based on right-handed nonlinear transmission lines and consists of a coplanar waveguide transmission line and periodically distributed GaAs planar Schottky varactor diode. The distributed-Schottky transmission-line-type phase shifter at a bias voltage greater than 1.5 V presents a continuous 0°–360° differential phase shift over a frequency range from 0 to 33 GHz. It is demonstrated that the minimum insertion loss is about 0.5 dB and that the return loss is less than-10 dB over the frequency band of 0–33 GHz at a reverse bias voltage less than 4.5 V. These excellent characteristics, such as broad differential phase shift, low insertion loss, and return loss, indicate that the proposed phase shifter can entirely be integrated into a phased array radar circuit.

Technology challenges for monolithically integrated waveguide demultiplexers

A short overview of integrated waveguide demultiplexers for different applications in future highly integrated optical communication systems is presented. Some fabricated devices based on amorphous silicon nanowire technology are described.

A terahertz on-chip InP-based power combiner designed using coupled-grounded coplanar waveguide lines

This article presents the design and performance of a terahertz on-chip coupled-grounded coplanar waveguide(GCPW)power combiner using a 50μm-thick InP process.The proposed topology uses two coupled-GCPW lines at the end of the input port to substitute two quarter-wavelength GCPW lines,which is different from the conventional Wilkinson power combiner and can availably minimize the coverage area.According to the results obtained,for the frequency range of 210-250 GHz,the insertion losses for each two-way combiner and four-way combiner were lower than 1.05 dB and1.35 dB,respectively,and the in-band return losses were better than 11 dB.Moreover,the proposed on-chip GCPW-based combiners achieved a compromise in low-loss,broadband,and small-size,which can find wide applications in terahertz bands,such as power amplifiers and signal distribution networks.

Design of 35 GHz 1 Watt GaAs pHEMT Power Amplifier MMIC

By using 0.15 μm GaAs pHEMT （pseudomorphic high electron mobility transistor） technology,a design of millimeter wave power amplifier microwave monolithic integrated circuit （MMIC） is presented.With careful optimization on circuit structure,this two-stage power amplifier achieves a simulated gain of 15.5 dB with fluctuation of 1 dB from 33 GHz to 37 GHz.A simulated output power of more than 30 dBm in saturation can be drawn from 3 W DC supply with maximum power added efficiency （PAE） of 26%.Rigorous electromagnetic simulation is performed to make sure the simulation results are credible.The whole chip area is 3.99 mm2 including all bond pads.

Broadband microwave frequency doubler based on left-handed nonlinear transmission lines

A bandwidth microwave second harmonic generator is successfully designed using composite right/left-handed non- linear transmission lines （CRLH NLTLs） in a GaAs monolithic microwave integrated circuit （MMIC） technology. The structure parameters of CRLH NLTLs, e.g. host transmission line, rectangular spiral inductor, and nonlinear capacitor, have a great impact on the second harmonic performance enhancement in terms of second harmonic frequency, output power, and conversion efficiency. It has been experimentally demonstrated that the second harmonic frequency is deter- mined by the anomalous dispersion of CRLH NLTLs and can be significantly improved by effectively adjusting these structure parameters. A good agreement between the measured and simulated second harmonic performances of Ka-band CRLH NLTLs frequency multipliers is successfully achieved, which further validates the design approach of frequency multipliers on CRLH NLTLs and indicates the potentials of CRLH NLTLs in terms of the generation of microwave and millimeter-wave signal source.

Development trends in silicon photonics

Silicon photonics has become one of the major technologies in this very information age. It has been intensively pursued by researchers and entrepreneurs all over the world in recent years. Achieving the large scale silicon photonic integration, particularly monolithic integration, is the final goal so that high density data communication will become much cheaper, more reliable, and less energy consuming. Comparing with the developed countries, China may need to invest more to develop top down nanoscale integration capability （more on processing technology） to sustain the development in silicon photonics and to elevate its own industry structure.

Fabrication of an electro-absorption modulated distributed feedback laser by quantum well intermixing with etching ion-implantation buffer layer

We report the fabrication details of a monolithically integrated electro-absorption modulated distributed feedback laser （EML） based on the ion-implantation induced quantum well intermixing （QWI） technique. To well-preserve material quality in the laser region, thermal-oxide SiO2 is deposited before implantation and the ion-implantation buffer layer is etched before annealing. Thirteen pairs quantum well and barrier are employed to compensate deterioration of the modulator＇s extinction ratio （ER） caused by the QWI process. The fabricated EML exhibits an 18 dB static ER at 5 V reverse bias. The 3 dB small signal modulation band- width of modulator is over 13.5 GHz indicating that this EML is a suitable light source for over 16 Gb/s optical transmission links.

Multi-channel DFB laser array fabricated by SAG with optimized epitaxy conditions

Selective area growth （SAG） is performed to fabricate monolithically integrated distributed feedback （DFB） laser array by adjusting the width of a SiO2 mask. A strain-compensated-barrier structure is adopted to reduce the accumulated strain and improve the quality of multi-quantum well materials. Varying the strip width of the SAG masks, the DFB laser array with an average channel spacing of 1.47 nm is demonstrated by a conventional holographic method with constant-pitch grating. The threshold current from 14 to 18 mA and over 35-dB side mode suppression ratio （SMSR） are obtained for all DFB lasers in the array.

A high power active circulator using GaN MMIC power amplifiers

This paper presents a 2.4 GHz hybrid integrated active circulator consisting of three power amplifiers and three PCB-based Wilkinson power dividers. The power amplifiers were designed and fabricated in a standard 0.35-μm AlGaN/GaN HEMT technology, and combined with three traditional power dividers on FR4 using bonding wires. Due to the isolation of power dividers, the isolation between three ports is achieved; meanwhile, due to the unidirectional characteristics of the power amplifiers, the nonreciprocal transfer characteristic of the circulator is realized. The measured insertion gain of the proposed active circulator is about 2-2.7 dB at the center frequency of 2.4 GHz, the isolation between three ports is better than 20 dB over 1.2-3.4 GHz, and the output power of the designed active circulator achieves up to 20.1-21.2 dBm at the center frequency.

A 31–45.5 GHz injection-locked frequency divider in 90-nm CMOS technology

We present a 31–45.5 GHz injection-locked frequency divider(ILFD) implemented in a standard 90-nm CMOS process. To reduce parasitic capacitance and increase the operating frequency, an NMOS-only cross-coupled pair is adopted to provide negative resistance. Acting as an adjustable resistor, an NMOS transistor with a tunable gate bias voltage is connected to the differential output terminals for locking range extension. Measurements show that the designed ILFD can be fully functional in a wide locking range and provides a good figure-of-merit. Under a 1 V tunable bias voltage, the self-resonant frequency of the divider is 19.11 GHz and the maximum locking range is 37.7% at 38.5 GHz with an input power of 0 d Bm. The power consumption is 2.88 m W under a supply voltage of 1.2 V. The size of the chip including the pads is 0.62 mm×0.42 mm.