Spurious signal response of broadband solid-state frequency multipliers at millimeter and submillimeter wavelengths

Heterodyne instruments at millimeter and submillimeter wavelengths often use wideband fixed-tuned frequency multipliers, in conjunction with broadband power amplifiers driven by frequency synthesizers, as the local oscillator (LO) source. At these frequencies the multipliers use Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) based Schottky varactor diodes as the nonlinear element, and like most other harmonic generators are susceptible to spurious signal interference. The state-of-the-art LO sources at these wavelengths use high power MMIC amplifiers at the initial stages, and are used to drive the subsequent multiplier stages to have enough LO power to pump the mixers. Because of the high input power environment and the presence of noise in the system, the multipliers become vulnerable to spurious signal interference. As the spurious signals propagate through the receiver system, they generate inter-modulation products which might fall in the passband of the heterodyne instrument and seriously degrade its performance. In this paper spurious signal response of solid-state frequency multipliers at millimeter and submillimeter wavelengths is investigated. Results of numerical harmonic balance simulations and laboratory experiments, which were found to show good agreement, are presented here.