A 330-GHz MMIC oscillator module

In this paper, a 0.27 mW fundamental oscillator module operating at 330 GHz is presented. The MMIC in the module contains both the oscillator circuit and waveguide probes integrated on the same InP substrate. The oscillator is implemented in coplanar waveguide (CPW) technology and uses advanced high fMAX 35 nm InP HEMT transistor in a common gate configuration. The integrated radial E-plane probe has been designed to operate over a frequency range of 300–350 GHz, using WR2.2 for the input and output waveguide. A free-running frequency of 330.5 GHz has been measured by down-converting the signal to an IF frequency observable on a spectrum analyzer. This is the first oscillator module above 300 GHz and demonstrates that fundamental signal generation at submillimeter wave frequencies can be simply and reliably generated.