Title :
A Novel Multilayer Aperture-Coupled Cavity Resonator for Millimeter-Wave CMOS RFICs
Author :
Miao, Meng ; Nguyen, Cam
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Texas A&M Univ., College Station, TX
fDate :
4/1/2007 12:00:00 AM
Abstract :
A novel millimeter-wave cavity resonator, completely compatible with commercial CMOS fabrication techniques, has been designed and fabricated in a 0.25-mum CMOS process and tested. The resonator employs a capacitively loaded cavity topology effectively implemented using the CMOS multimetal-layer and via-hole structure. The CMOS capacitively loaded cavity resonator, including two coupling apertures and microstrip feed lines, occupies an area of 2 mmtimes1.4 mmtimes6.28 mum, which is much smaller than the cavity resonator designed without a capacitive load at the same resonant frequency. It resonates at 30 GHz with a corresponding insertion loss of 2 dB and unloaded quality factor of 22.2. The resonant-frequency reduction is approximately 50%, as compared to that without the capacitive load. The design and performance of a new CMOS coupling aperture, which is useful as a coupling mechanism and a vertical interconnect for highly dense millimeter-wave CMOS RF integrated circuits (RFICs) are also presented. The developed low-loss and compact CMOS cavity resonator can be used to realize various millimeter-wave on-chip passive components such as wideband bandpass filters and diplexers and is suitable for direct integration with other CMOS circuits on a single chip. It is attractive for CMOS RFIC design at millimeter-wave frequencies
Keywords :
CMOS integrated circuits; cavity resonators; coupled circuits; integrated circuit interconnections; microwave integrated circuits; millimetre wave integrated circuits; 0.25 micron; 1.4 mm; 2 dB; 2 mm; 30 GHz; 6.28 micron; CMOS coupling aperture; CMOS fabrication; RF resonators; capacitively loaded cavity topology; coupling mechanism; direct integration; microwave integrated circuit; millimeter-wave CMOS RFIC; millimeter-wave cavity resonator; millimeter-wave on-chip passive components; multilayer aperture-coupled cavity resonator; resonant-frequency reduction; vertical interconnect; via-hole structure; Apertures; CMOS process; CMOS technology; Cavity resonators; Coupling circuits; Fabrication; Millimeter wave integrated circuits; Millimeter wave technology; Nonhomogeneous media; Radiofrequency integrated circuits; Aperture-coupled cavity resonators; CMOS RF integrated circuit (RFIC); RF resonators; coupling apertures; microwave and millimeter-wave integrated circuit (IC); microwave and millimeter-wave resonators; passive components;
Journal_Title :
Microwave Theory and Techniques, IEEE Transactions on
DOI :
10.1109/TMTT.2007.892817