300-GHz 120-Gb/s Wireless Transceiver with High-Output-Power and High-Gain Power Amplifier Based on 80-nm InP-HEMT Technology

A 300-GHz wireless transceiver (TRx) with a record data rate of 120 Gb/s was developed using an InP-based high-electron-mobility-transistors (InP-HEMTs). The power amplifier (PA), which is the key component of our TRx, was designed and fabricated to have high output power and gain with a combination of two- and 4-finger HEMTs and a low-impedance inter-stage matching technique. The measured small signal gain of the PA module was larger than 15 dB from 274 to 303 GHz. The saturated output power and output power at 1-dB gain compression point were 12 and 6 dBm, respectively. Using this PA and a 300-GHz fundamental mixer, we constructed our 300-GHz TRx. Wireless data transmissions of the TRx with a link distance of 9.8 m were carried out. Data transmissions of 120 and 100.2 Gb/s were successfully demonstrated for 16QAM and 64QAM, respectively. To the best of our knowledge, these are the highest data rates achieved with an electronics-based TRx around 300 GHz.