A new W-band active load-pull system is presented. It is the first load-pull system to implement a 94 GHz load by means of an active loop exploiting frequency conversion techniques. The active loop configuration demonstrates a number of advantages that overcome the typical limitations of W-band passive tuners or conventional active open loop techniques in a cost effective way: load reflection coefficients ΓL as high as 0.95 in magnitude can be achieved at 94 GHz, thus providing a nearly full

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... erage of the Smith Chart. Possible applications of the setup include technology assessment, large-signal device model verification at sub-THz frequencies, and W-band MMIC design and characterization. The availability of direct and accurate load-pull measurements at W-band should prove an asset in the development of sub-THz integrated circuits. First measurements performed on high performance InP double heterojunction bipolar transistors (DHBTs) and GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) are presented. Index Terms-Active-device measurements, load pull, nonlinear measurements, transistor measurement, active devices. This is the author's version of an article that has been published in this journal. Changes were made to this version by the publisher prior to publication. The final version of record is available at http://dx.