A 159–169 GHz frequency source with 1.26 mW peak output power in 65 nm CMOS

This paper present a D-band signal source based on a 2^nd harmonic generation of a differential Colpitts VCO that fabricated on 65 nm CMOS process. It covers a frequency range from 159 GHz to 169 GHz with a total tuning range of 5.8%. It provides -3.8 dBm at 163.5 GHz with a nominal supply voltage of 1.2 V while consuming a DC current of 25 mA and with power efficiency of 1.38%; increasing the supply voltage to 2 V with consuming a DC current of 44 mA achieves +1 dBm at 164.6 GHz with efficiency of 1.43%. The source performance in terms of output power, tuning range and efficiency is the best that reported on CMOS at this frequency range.