"2009" / Thesis (MSc (Hons))--Macquarie University, Faculty of Science, Dept. of Physics and Engineering, 2010. / Bibliography: p. 163-166. / Introduction -- Design theory and process technology -- 15GHz oscillator implementations -- 24GHz oscillator implementation -- Frequency prescaler implementation -- MMIC fabrication and measurement -- Conclusion. / Advances in Silicon Germanium (SiGe) Bipolar Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (BiCMOS) technology has caused a recent revolution in low-cost Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuit (MMIC) design. -- This thesis presents the design, fabrication and measurement of four MMICs for frequency synthesis, manufactured in a commercially available IBM 0.18μm SiGe BiCMOS technology with ft = 60GHz. The high speed and low-cost features of SiGe Heterojunction Bipolar Transistors (HBTs) were exploited to successfully develop two single-ended injection-lockable 15GHz Voltage Controlled Oscillators (VCOs) for application in an active Ka-Band antenna beam-forming network, and a 24GHz differential cross-coupled VCO and 1/6 synchronous static frequency prescaler for emerging Ultra Wideband (UWB) automotive Short Range Radar (SRR) applications. -- On-wafer measurement techniques were used to precisely characterise the performance of each circuit and compare against expected simulation results and state-of-the-art performance reported in the literature. -- The original contributions of this thesis include the application of negative resistance theory to single-ended and differential SiGe VCO design at 15-24GHz, consideration of manufacturing process variation on 24GHz VCO and prescaler performance, implementation of a fully static multi-stage synchronous divider topology at 24GHz and the use of differential on-wafer measurement techniques. -- Finally, this thesis has llustrated the excellent practicability of SiGe BiCMOS technology in the engineering of high performance, low-cost MMICs for frequency synthesis in millimeterwave (mm-wave) devices. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / xxii, 166 p. : ill (some col.)