Abstract

The design and characterization of a millimeterwave frequency doubler based on a commercial foundry HEMT-process is described. The main goal of this work was to create a doubler topology which is simple, reliable, electrically stable and in addition has low power dissipation, good spectral purity, and high bandwidth. The presented doubler is based on an input stage biased close to pinch-off for efficient harmonic generation, followed by a frequency selective amplifier. The doubler chip occupies about 2 mm2 chip area and delivers 7 dBm output power with an excellent rejection of unwanted harmonics of >34dB and a DC-power consumption of only 40 mW. The 3 dB bandwidth is 25%.