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This article reports on Si/AlGaN/GaN HEMT MMICs for W-band frequency generation. A Ka-band voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO), a W-band frequency tripler, and a W-band frequency quadrupler are designed to reach good phase noise, output power, and harmonic rejection in the W-band. The VCO presents an experimental frequency tuning range of 21.8–25.2 GHz, and it enables direct integration with a commercial phase-locked loop (PLL). The tripler exhibits a peak output power of 3 dBm with a 3-dB bandwidth between 90- and 108-GHz output frequencies. The quadrupler, which is based on the integration of two doublers, one interstage buffer amplifier and a two-stage output buffer amplifier, achieves more than 10-dBm output power and better than 25-dB harmonics suppression over the frequency range of 89–100 GHz. The VCO and the quadrupler are also integrated into a fully integrated W-band signal source with a frequency tuning range from 91.6 to 100.3 GHz and an output power of 12–16 dBm. Typical phase noise of −126 dBc/Hz is measured at 10-MHz offset from the carrier. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the highest integration level reported for a W-band signal source in GaN HEMT MMIC technology. In addition, state-of-the-art far-carrier phase noise for W-band signal sources based on integrated resonators is presented.

A D-band (110-170 GHz) ultra high data rate link is presented and characterized. The circuits are realized in a commercial 130 nm silicon germanium (SiGe) BiCMOS process. The 3-dB bandwidth for both transmitter (Tx) and receiver (Rx) is between 125 - 165 GHz, resulting in a 40 GHz bandwidth. The communication link has demonstrated transmissions up to 102 Gbps using 8-phase shift keying (PSK) modulation over a one meter long foam-cladded polymer microwave fiber (PMF) with a bit error rate (BER) of $2.1\times 10^{-3}$ . Using direct quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK), 56 Gbps was reached with a BER $< 10^{-12}$ . Total chip area for Tx and Rx combined, including pads, is 4.2 mm2.