A 0.53 THz Reconfigurable Source Module With Up to 1 mW Radiated Power for Diffuse Illumination in Terahertz Imaging Applications

This paper presents a high-power 0.53 THz source module with programmable diversity to adjust the brightness and the direction of light to obtain the desired diffuse lighting conditions in THz imaging applications. The source module consists of a single SiGe BiCMOS chip which operates an array of 16 source-pixel incoherently. Each source pixel consists of a primary on-chip ring-antenna and two triple-push oscillators locked 180° out-of-phase. The module provides a total radiated power of up to 1 mW (0 dBm) with 62.5 μW (-12 dBm) per source pixel on average and an EIRP per pixel of 25 dBm. The circuit layout is scalable in size and output power. The chip consumes up to 2.5 W from a 2.4 V supply and 3.2 mW from a digital 1.2 V supply respectively. The module includes a secondary silicon lens, is programmable through a CPLD, and supplied from a USB port. The THz radiation can be recorded with a CMOS 1 k-pixel THz video camera and represent an all silicon solution for real-time active THz imaging.