D-band neutralized amplifier design based on accurate millimeter-wave de-embedding method

A D-band neutralized amplifier design methodology based on accurate millimeter-wave de-embedding method is proposed. A neutralized amplifier stage using magnetic coupled configuration is introduced and its small signal equivalent circuit is analyzed in details. The neutralized network cancels the effects of the transistor gate-drain capacitor C-gd and boosts the maximum available gain of the amplifier stage to its maximum achievable gain. To achieve the expectable measured results, a millimeter-wave de-embedding method based on the transmission line model is developed. The transmission matrixes of the test structure are analyzed and the simulation results are used to prove the advantage of the de-embedding method in D-band. Implemented in 65 nm CMOS, 6 amplifier stages with different parameters are embedded into the proposed test structure. The measured results after the de-embedding calibration show a good agreement with the simulated results of the corresponding amplifier stages. Based on the proposed design methodology, one complete D-band amplifier has been implemented and achieves a gain of 13.78 dB at 157 GHz, with only 23.28 mW DC power consumption from a 1.2 V power supply.