Fully Integrated ASK Receiver MMIC for Terahertz Communications at 300 GHz

An ASK receiver MMIC operating at 300 GHz for future terahertz communications is presented. In the receiver IC, we fully integrated all necessary components-a receiving dipole antenna, high gain RF amplifier, envelop detector for demodulating ASK signal and output differential data amplifier-in a 1000×2500 μm² area. A silicon lens was used to compensate for the small gain of the on-chip antenna. To ensure reliable and stable operation, we designed the MMIC with a thin-film microstrip line, which is expected to suppress crosstalk between the on-chip antenna and the RF amplifier through the substrate and silicon lens. The packaged receiver module with the silicon lens is expected to provide approximately 24-dBi beam directivity. Measured RF and baseband bandwidths are around 30 and 15 GHz, respectively, when a single bias of 3.3 V and total current of around 86 mA are applied. With the receiver module, simple wireless data transmission was conducted for up to 24 Gbps in the 300-GHz band. At 12.5 Gbps, error-free data transmission (bit error rate <; 10^-9) over 0.3 m was achieved with the transmission power of - 16-dBm and a 25-dBi transmitting antenna. With -10-dBm transmission power, measured Q-factors of the received eye patterns were larger than 6 for up to 20 Gbps, which implies that the bit error rate will be less than 10^-9.