20.1 A 300GHz 40nm CMOS transmitter with 32-QAM 17.5Gb/s/ch capability over 6 channels

The vast unallocated frequency band lying above 275GHz offers enormous potential for ultrahigh-speed wireless communication. An overall bandwidth that could be allocated for multi-channel communication can easily be several times the 60GHz unlicensed bandwidth of 9GHz. We present a 300GHz transmitter (TX) in 40nm CMOS, capable of 32-quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) 17.5Gb/s/ch signal transmission. It can cover the frequency range from 275 to 305GHz with 6 channels as shown at the top of Fig. 20.1.1. Figure 20.1.1 also lists possible THz TX architectures, based on recently reported above-200GHz TXs. The choice of architecture depends very much on the transistor unity-power-gain frequency fmax. If the fmax is sufficiently higher than the carrier frequency, the ordinary power amplifier (PA)-last architecture (Fig. 20.1.1, top row of the table) is possible and preferable [1-3], although the presence of a PA is, of course, not a requirement [4,5]. If, on the other hand, the fmax is comparable to or lower than the carrier frequency as in our case, a PA-less architecture must be adopted. A typical such architecture is the frequency multiplier-last architecture (Fig. 20.1.1, middle row of the table). For example, a 260GHz quadrupler-last on-off keying (OOK) TX [6] and a 434GHz tripler-last amplitude-shift keying (ASK) TX [7] were reported. A drawback of this architecture is the inefficient bandwidth utilization due to signal bandwidth spreading. Another drawback is that the use of multibit digital modulation is very difficult, if not impossible. An exception to this is the combination of quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK) and frequency tripling. When a QPSK-modulated intermediate frequency (IF) signal undergoes frequency tripling, the resulting signal constellation remains that of QPSK with some symbol permutation. Such a tripler-last 240GHz QPSK TX was reported [8]. However, a 16-QAM constellation, for example, would suffer severe distortion by frequency tripling. If the 300GHz band is to be seriously considered for a platform for ultrahigh-speed wireless communication, QAM-capability will be a requisite.

[1]  Yong-Zhong Xiong,et al.  A SiGe BiCMOS Transmitter/Receiver Chipset With On-Chip SIW Antennas for Terahertz Applications , 2012, IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits.

[2]  Ali M. Niknejad,et al.  A 260 GHz fully integrated CMOS transceiver for wireless chip-to-chip communication , 2012, 2012 Symposium on VLSI Circuits (VLSIC).

[3]  Ali M. Niknejad,et al.  A 240GHz wideband QPSK transmitter in 65nm CMOS , 2014, 2014 IEEE Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits Symposium.

[4]  M. Seo,et al.  A single-chip 630 GHz transmitter with 210 GHz sub-harmonic PLL local oscillator in 130 nm InP HBT , 2012, 2012 IEEE/MTT-S International Microwave Symposium Digest.

[5]  D. Meier,et al.  Ultra-broadband MMIC-based wireless link at 240 GHz enabled by 64GS/s DAC , 2014, 2014 39th International Conference on Infrared, Millimeter, and Terahertz waves (IRMMW-THz).

[6]  Zheng Wang,et al.  A 210GHz fully integrated differential transceiver with fundamental-frequency VCO in 32nm SOI CMOS , 2013, 2013 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference Digest of Technical Papers.

[7]  Ho-Jin Song,et al.  50-Gb/s Direct Conversion QPSK Modulator and Demodulator MMICs for Terahertz Communications at 300 GHz , 2014, IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques.

[8]  M. Urteaga,et al.  300 GHz Integrated Heterodyne Receiver and Transmitter With On-Chip Fundamental Local Oscillator and Mixers , 2015, IEEE Transactions on Terahertz Science and Technology.