A 210GHz fully integrated differential transceiver with fundamental-frequency VCO in 32nm SOI CMOS

The vastly under-utilized spectrum in the sub-THz frequency range enables disruptive applications including 10Gb/s chip-to-chip wireless communications and imaging/spectroscopy. Owing to aggressive scaling in feature size and device f_T/f_max, nanoscale CMOS technology potentially enables integration of sophisticated systems at this frequency range. For example, CMOS sub-THz signal sources and TRXs have been reported [1-4], employing techniques such as distributed active radiator (DAR) and super-harmonic signal generator. The lack of RF amplification in CMOS sub-THz TRXs reported in prior work, however, results in low efficiency (and thus higher power dissipation), and high noise-figure (NF). This paper addresses these issues by demonstrating a 210GHz TRX with on-off-keying (OOK) modulation incorporating a 2×2 TX antenna array, a 2×2 spatial combining power amplifier (PA), a fundamental frequency VCO, and a low noise amplifier (LNA) in a 32nm SOI CMOS process (f_T/f_max=250/350GHz).