Can silicon catch the millimeter wave?

Transceiver designs implemented in silicon technology are most competitive in design cycle-time and performance versus cost when compared to other technologies. Scaling is driving silicon technology towards gain-bandwidths of 300 GHz, enabling circuits operating deep into mm-wave frequency bands (i.e., well above 30 GHz). However, innovations in on-chip passive design and construction currently being pioneered in mixed-signal silicon technologies may be the real technology enablers at these frequencies. Relevant examples are presented from the author´s own work and the recent literature.