Towards a 120 GHz SiGe LNA for millimeter-wave imaging

Imaging in the millimeter-wave range promises significant benefits for safety and security. The low THz range is being rapidly unraveled by various silicon technologies. The following work presents the progress on design and characterization of an amplifier operating in the 120 GHz frequency range, realized in IBM's standard 0.12-um SiGe BiCMOS technology. Highly encouraging is the good agreement obtained between the measured and the simulated performance of the gain-blocks. © 2011 IEEE.