ISSCCx-2015-Heydari

• high phase noise and very small tuning range
ISSCC 2015
6
Solutions to Lack of Amplification
Max. gain and output power conditions for near-fMAX devices Over-neutralization for high-frequency gain improvement
ISSCC 2015
4
Why Silicon?
• Use of sophisticated signal processing on a single chip • Dense array of detectors and radiators on a single wafer
[Chen, ISSCC 2013]
• Several techniques were presented to address these challenges
ISSCC 2015
11
References Cited
• Z. Wang et al., "A 210 GHz Fully Integrated Differential Transceiver with Fundamental Frequency VCO in 32 nm SOI CMOS," paper 8.1, ISSCC 2013 • L. Kong, et al., “A 50mW-TX 65mW-RX 60GHz 4-element phased-array transceiver with integrated antennas in 65nm CMOS,” paper 13.3, ISSCC 2013 • H. Sherry et al., “A 1kpixel CMOS camera chip for 25fps real-time terahertz imaging applications,” paper 15.1, ISSCC 2012 • P.-N. Chen et al., “A 94GHz 3D-Image Radar Engine with 4TX/4RX Beamforming Scan Technique in 65nm CMOS,” paper 8.6, ISSCC 2013 • J. Chen et al.,” A digitally modulated mm-Wave cartesian beamforming transmitter with quadrature spatial combining,” paper 13.2, ISSCC 2013 • Y. Tousi et al., “A 260GHz broadband source with 1.1mW continuous-wave radiated power and EIRP of 15.7dBm in 65nm CMOS,” paper 8.2, ISSCC 2014 • P.-Y. Chiang et al., “A 300GHz Frequency Synthesizer with 7.9% Locking Range in 90nm SiGe BiCMOS,” paper 14.7, ISSCC 2014
0.3 – 3 THz
Terahertz Imaging Spectroscopy
22
29
57
64
77
81
95
0.1 0.2
Distance (m)
120
0.02
240 300
GHz 3000
0.3 0.015 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 0.005 0.01
AWGN Channel

Advantages of MMW/THz communication
Wide BW with small fractional BW The passive size decrease proportionally The antenna size and spacing decreases
VDD
300GHz Frequency Synthesizer
fo 1/4fo
fo
LC LC
3fo
LC
LDM
VCTRL LVB
VCTRL VDD
fo
fo
1/4fo
LDB
CAV: Colpitts-Based Active Varactor VCTRL
M
1.6mm
fo
LVB
VCO+Divider (÷4) 1.6mm

2.2 mm
740mm
[Wang, ISSCC 2013]
[Kong, ISSCC 2013]
820 mm
2.2 mm
ISSCC 2015
3
mm-Wave/Terahertz for Imaging
Passive Sensing/Imaging
[Ojefors, ISSCC 2010]
[Sherry, ISSCC 2012]
Millimeter-Wave and Terahertz Integrated Circuits in Silicon Technologies: Challenges and Solutions
Payam Heydari University of California, Irvine
mm-Wave/Terahertz Applications
10
ISSCC 2015
Summary
• The vastly under-utilized spectrum in the (sub-)THz band enables disruptive applications 10-gigabit chip-to-chip wireless communications, and imaging/spectroscopy. • Owing to aggressive scaling in feature size and fT/fmax, nanoscale silicon enables integration of sophisticated systems at sub-THz systems
[Tousi, ISSCC 2014]
ISSCC 2015
9
Solutions to Small Tuning Range and Poor Phase Noise
• PLL-based synthesizers to increase tuning range and lower the close-in phase noise
Distance (m)
Terahertz Applications • Molecular spectroscopy (molecular modeling/identification, bio-detection) • Radar imaging (concealed weapon detection, illicit drugs) • Short-range 10+ gigabit wireless communications
W-Band
E-band P-to-P Backhaul 75 GHz Passive Imaging
24GHz
Automotive Short-range Radar
60GHz
Gbps WLAN/WPAN
77/79GHz
Automotive Radar
120 – 240GHz
Passive/Active Imaging Short-Range Chip-to-Chip and Inter-Chip Wireless Communications
A 300GHz Phased-Locked-Based Synthesizer [Chiang, ISSCC 2014]
REF Input
PFD
Charge Pump
Loop Filter
VCTRL
LDB
LDM
LDB
÷256
1/4fo 1/4fo
Testing Port
VDD
VCTRL LVB
fo
Array of detectors and radiators Phased-array and MIMO transceivers with massive number of elements
• High frequency requirement imposes several challenges on the architecture and circuit design at these frequencies
ISSCC 2015
2
mm-Wave/Terahertz for Wireless Communications
Shannon Theory:
Channel Capacity Signal Bandwidth Noise Power
C BW log 2 (1 S / N )
Signal Power
ISSCC 2015
5
mm-Wave/Terahertz IC Design Challenges in Silicon
• Lack of amplification in near-fmax frequency range
• Weak output power and poor efficiency • High free space path loss (FSPL) Proportional to f2 • Insufficient on-chip antenna gain and radiation efficiency