Technology scaling has enabled RF-CMOS circuits that operate in the millimeterwave frequency range (30 to 300GHz) where large bandwidths are available. These bandwidths can be exploited to increase data-rates of wireless communication links. Unfortunately, free-space path loss (FSPL) limits the operating distance of wireless systems at these frequencies. A 5-meter link at 120GHz has an FSPL as high as 88dB. Therefore such wireless links are feasible only with highly directive antennas. This work uses a directive channel instead. At mm-Wave frequencies, the directive channel can be a low-cost plastic fiber or hollow tube, made from PP, PS or Teflon. These directive channels will guide electromagnetic waves with low loss from TX to RX [1-4]. As such, RF communication through a plastic fiber becomes an interesting alternative and complements existing solutions like wireline copper or optical fibers. This paper presents an entire communication link that uses a continuous-phase frequency-shift keying (CPFSK) TX and RX. We report on 120GHz 40nm CMOS TX and RX chips, the connector solution, and the plastic channel. Data-rates up to 12.7Gb/s over 1m, transmission lengths up to 7m at 2.5Gb/s and an energy efficiency of 1.8pJ/b/m for 4m and 7.4Gb/s are achieved for the complete communication link. All these results are for a BER 10 -12 . Compared to previous work, measurements also show the link still works for a bending radius of only 25mm, thanks to the selection of a high carrier frequency.
This paper presents a multi-gigabit communication link over a polymer microwave fiber (PMF). A polymer fiber is a lightweight and low-loss channel at millimeter-wave (mm-Wave) frequencies. PMF is a promising, robust and low-cost technology to complement copper or optical links for high-speed applications with transmission distances up to several meters. The high carrier frequency of 120 GHz ensures low bending losses for small bending radii and features a large absolute bandwidth, which can be exploited to achieve high data rates with a simple modulation scheme. The used continuous-phase frequency shift keying (CPFSK) modulation results in a power efficient system at both the TX and the RX side. We report on 120 GHz 40 nm bulk CMOS TX and RX chips, the fiber and the coupling solution between the chips and the fiber. Data rates up to 12.7 Gbps over 1 meter, transmission lengths up to 7 meters at 2.5 Gbps and a link energy efficiency of 1.8 pJ/b/m for 4 meters and 7.4 Gbps are achieved for the complete communication link.
A 120GHz quadrature frequency generator with 16.2GHz tuning range in 45nm CMOS Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits Symposium (RFIC), 2013 IEEE, 207 -210.
In this paper, a pulse generator circuit for mm-wave imaging systems is presented. The pulse generation system consists of a pulse generator core circuit and a nonlinear transmission line (NLTL) as pulse compressor. The width compression is the key feature of this design as a pulse narrowing in time domain corresponds to bandwidth expansion in frequency domain. A digitally generated pulse is decomposed by the NLTL into several impulse waves called solitons. Finally, the secondary solitons are degenerated by means of tapering. In this way, the compression effect is achieved. The simulation results showed that the narrowest pulse generated by the delay line-based pulse generator circuit was 37ps. Following that, the NLTL further compressed the pulse by 62% to 14 ps. Hence, an extremely wide bandwidth from 0 to a first null of 100GHz was generated. This design is implemented in 90-nm CMOS process with a supply voltage of 1.2V.
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