A 140 GHz to 160 GHz active impedance tuner for in-situ noise characterization in BiCMOS 55 nm

A millimeter-wave active impedance tuner is implemented on the STMicroelectronics BiCMOS 55 nm technology for in-situ noise characterization. The presented circuit is composed of a two stage low noise amplifier with a gain of 11 dB and a NF of 7.5 dB at 150 GHz loading a 64 states passive impedance tuner. This active tunable circuit provides a reflection coefficient Γ > 0.5 and a S
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parameter between −7 dB and +4.5 dB in the 140–160 GHz frequency range. At 146 GHz, the noise factor value is from 8 dB to 10.5 dB. The core area is 0.336 mm
²
. Its measured performances in noise and S parameters make its integration possible in an in-situ noise characterization bench on Silicon.