140–220-GHz Distributed Antenna and Amplifier Co-Integrated in SiGe BiCMOS Process for UWB Receivers

This paper presents the design and characterization of the first stage of a sub-THz receiver consisting of an on-chip stacked Vivaldi antenna integrated with a Cascaded Single-Stage Distributed Amplifier. The employed fabrication process is a 130nm SiGe BiCMOS technology featuring HBTs with fmax of 450 GHz. A novel design procedure based on the co-design of antenna and amplifier predicted variations of the receiver gain within 4 dB in the frequency range from 140 GHz to 220 GHz, which an innovative measurement technique allowed to validate experimentally. 14 dB of maximum gain have been demonstrated, with variation below 6 dB in the frequency range from 140 GHz to 220 GHz. Compared against the state of art the presented design demonstrates the largest reported absolute and relative frequency band of operation, with an improvement of a factor 2 and 3 against previous art, respectively.