Ultracompact SOI CMOS frequency doubler for low power applications at 26.5-28.5 GHz

In this paper, a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) frequency doubler for wireless applications at Ka-band is presented. The microwave monolithic integrated circuit (MMIC) is fabricated using digital 90 nm silicon on insulator (SOI) technology. All impedance matching, filter and bias elements are implemented on the chip, which has a very compact size of 0.37 mm×0.27 mm. At an output frequency of 27 GHz, source/load impedances of 50 Ω, a supply voltage of 1.25 V, a supply current of 8 mA and an input power of -4.5 dBm, a conversion gain of 1.5 dB was measured. To the knowledge of the authors, the circuit has by far the highest operation frequency for a CMOS frequency multiplier reported to date and requires lower supply power than circuits using leading edge III/V and silicon germanium (SiGe) technologies.