Dual-Side Hybrid Embedding Network for Gain Enhancement of Terahertz Amplifiers at Frequencies Near fmax

Liu, Xiaorui; Yu, Jianguo; Wang, Yun; Huang, Yibo; Zhang, Feixiang; Wang, Zhanjiang; Cheng, Yaqi

doi:10.3390/mi17040432

Open AccessArticle

Dual-Side Hybrid Embedding Network for Gain Enhancement of Terahertz Amplifiers at Frequencies Near f_max

by

Xiaorui Liu

,

Jianguo Yu

^*,

Yun Wang

,

Yibo Huang

,

Feixiang Zhang

,

Zhanjiang Wang

and

Yaqi Cheng

School of Electronic Engineering, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing 100876, China

^*

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Micromachines 2026, 17(4), 432; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi17040432

Submission received: 8 January 2026 / Revised: 16 March 2026 / Accepted: 27 March 2026 / Published: 31 March 2026

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Broadband Terahertz Devices and Communication Technologies, 2nd Edition)

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Abstract

This paper proposes a dual-side hybrid embedding network (DHEN) to mitigate gain degradation in terahertz amplifiers at frequencies near

f_{\max}

. The proposed approach employs a pre-embedding network for parasitic absorption, followed by Y-embedding for gain enhancement. A theoretical analysis is conducted to derive the embedding conditions for process-constrained circuit synthesis. In this architecture, a capacitive base-side pre-embedding provides intrinsic DC isolation, while a defected-ground-structure (DGS) inductor realizes the Y-embedding inductive element with reduced layout area. Based on the DHEN, a four-stage amplifier is designed in a 130 nm SiGe BiCMOS process. Electromagnetic co-simulation results demonstrate a power gain of 19.3 dB at 280 GHz, corresponding to an 11.5 dB improvement over a conventional unboosted amplifier. The proposed approach provides a unified synthesis methodology that simultaneously addresses parasitic absorption, DC isolation, and gain enhancement for near-

f_{max}

THz amplifier design.

Keywords: embedding network; gain enhancement; terahertz amplifier; defected ground structure (DGS)

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MDPI and ACS Style

Liu, X.; Yu, J.; Wang, Y.; Huang, Y.; Zhang, F.; Wang, Z.; Cheng, Y. Dual-Side Hybrid Embedding Network for Gain Enhancement of Terahertz Amplifiers at Frequencies Near f_max. Micromachines 2026, 17, 432. https://doi.org/10.3390/mi17040432

AMA Style

Liu X, Yu J, Wang Y, Huang Y, Zhang F, Wang Z, Cheng Y. Dual-Side Hybrid Embedding Network for Gain Enhancement of Terahertz Amplifiers at Frequencies Near f_max. Micromachines. 2026; 17(4):432. https://doi.org/10.3390/mi17040432

Chicago/Turabian Style

Liu, Xiaorui, Jianguo Yu, Yun Wang, Yibo Huang, Feixiang Zhang, Zhanjiang Wang, and Yaqi Cheng. 2026. "Dual-Side Hybrid Embedding Network for Gain Enhancement of Terahertz Amplifiers at Frequencies Near f_max" Micromachines 17, no. 4: 432. https://doi.org/10.3390/mi17040432

APA Style

Liu, X., Yu, J., Wang, Y., Huang, Y., Zhang, F., Wang, Z., & Cheng, Y. (2026). Dual-Side Hybrid Embedding Network for Gain Enhancement of Terahertz Amplifiers at Frequencies Near f_max. Micromachines, 17(4), 432. https://doi.org/10.3390/mi17040432

Note that from the first issue of 2016, this journal uses article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.

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Dual-Side Hybrid Embedding Network for Gain Enhancement of Terahertz Amplifiers at Frequencies Near f_max

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