This paper describes the design, fabrication, and experimental evaluation of W-band planar monolithic varactor frequency multipliers based on finite ground coplanar (FGC) lines. These lines are a low-loss low-dispersion alternative of a planar transmission line to more conventional microstrip of coplanar waveguide lines at millimeter-wave frequencies. The near transverse-electromagnetic nature of propagation of the FGC lines simplifies circuit design and layout. Two-diode W-band varactor multipliers with input Q's of two and three and FGC input and output have been realized. The multiplier with input Q=2 has an output power of 72 mW, an efficiency of 16.3% near 80 GHz, and a -3-dB bandwidth greater than 10 GHz, while the multiplier with Q=3 has an efficiency of 21.5% near 70 GHz and a 6-GHz bandwidth. This paper briefly describes the characteristics of the FGC lines, the design of the multipliers and their radiofrequency performance.
published proceedings
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES
author list (cited authors)
Papapolymerou, J., Brauchler, F., East, J., & Katehi, L.
