Circuit building blocks for millimeter and sub-millimeter …...Sep. 2014, Venice, Italy 240 GHz...

ESSCIRC, THz-Workshop Sep. 2014, Venice, Italy

Circuit building blocks for millimeter and sub-millimeter-wave systems

Ullrich Pfeiffer, Richard Al Hadi

High-Frequency and Communication Technology (IHCT) University of Wuppertal, Germany

[email protected]


Outline

§  Motivation on Si-based mm-Wave and sub-mm-Wave systems

§  Below 240GHz circuit building block ─  160-GHz low-noise down-converter ─  220GHz Frequency Multiplier Chains

§  mm-Wave systems in SiGe technology ─  240GHz Radar Transceiver

§  Sub-mm-Wave systems in SiGe technology ─  320GHz Radar Chip-Set ─  820GHz sub-harmonic chipset ─  THz power detector circuits in SiGe technology ─  530GHz Free running oscillator array

§  Summary and conclusion

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ESSCIRC, THz-Workshop Sep. 2014, Venice, Italy 3

§  Why Silicon? ─  Widely available technology ─  reliable and has repeatable performance ─  Enable system-on-chip ─  Compact systems for handheld applications ─  Low cost in high volumes

§  Problems: ─  High volume applications are missing… ─  Performance roll-off, e.g transistors gain and cutoff frequencies

Silicon technologies for mm-Wave and sub-mm-Wave applications

Ultimate goal

H. Sherry et. al, ISSCC 2012

λ

f


Silicon (SiGe) HBT Technology Evolution

SiG

e H

BT

peak

cut

off f

requ

ency

[GH

z]

1995 2000 2005 2010

100

200 300 400

SiGe:C

2nd

3rd

4th

1st

SiGe HBT

R&D Today

60GHz Com. 77GHz Radar

mmWave THz Imaging

Radar

3.3V

2.4V

1.7V

1.5V

2015

“THz electronics”

160GHz Com. /Radar

5th

500 600 700 1.5V


160 and 220GHz circuit building blocks

5


A 160-GHz low-noise down converter

6 [Ref] E. Öjefors, F. Pourchon, P. Chevalier and U. Pfeiffer “A 160-GHz lownoise downconverter in a SiGe HBT technology.” EuMIC, October 2010

§  DOTFIVE EU project §  STMicroelectronics BiCMOS9MW §  25 dB conversion gain §  7.4-dB noise figure without balun


Active 220GHz Frequency Multiplier Chains

7 [Ref] Erik Öjefors, Bernd Heinemann and Ullrich R. Pfeiffer “Active 220- and 325-GHz Frequency Multiplier Chains in an SiGe HBT Technology.” RFIC, June 2011

§  DOTFIVE EU project §  0.13um SiGe BiCMOS IHP technology §  215-240GHz tuning range §  -3dBm output power


A 240 GHz Circular Polarized monolithic FMCW Radar

Transceiver (EuMIC 2014)


240 GHz Radar SiGe-Transceiver 1/2

§  Single antenna with circ. polarization §  +3 dBm EIRP §  ~60 GHz usable band

[Ref] K. Statnikov et al, “A 240 GHz Circular Polarized FMCW Radar Based on a SiGe Transceiver with a Lens-Integrated On- Chip Antenna.” EuMIC, Oct. 2014


Operational Bandwidth of the TRX

•  Peak total EIRP: +3 dBm @ 236 GHz



Resulting Point Spread Function

§  Theoretical range resolution (6-dB FW, 60 GHz BW): §  1.21 x 2.5 mm = 3.03 mm §  Measured range resolution: 3.65 mm



A 0.32 THz FMCW Radar Tx and Rx Chip-Set (ESSCIRC 2013)


0.32 THz SiGe-Tx-Rx for FMCW applications

13

§ DOTFIVE STMicroelectronics SiGe technology § Max. radiated TX power: -5 dBm @ 0.311 THz § Operational Chip-Set BW: 27 GHz (0.311 – 0.338 THz) § TX: 2.1 x 0.45 mm², 500 mA @ 3.8 V § RX: 2.3 x 0.45 mm², 290 mA @ 3.2 V

[Ref] K. Statnikov et al, “A 0.32 THz FMCW Radar System Based on Low-Cost Lens-Integrated SiGe HBT Front-Ends.” ESSCIRC, Oct. 2013


Lens Packaged SiGe-Chip-Set

•  On-chip antennas

•  Back-illumination through lossy 150µm-Si-substrate

•  4.5 mm HR-Si-lenses

•  Improved antenna efficiency, gain and radiation pattern

[Ref] K. Statnikov et al, “A 0.32 THz FMCW Radar System Based on Low-Cost Lens-Integrated SiGe HBT Front-Ends.” ESSCIRC, Oct. 2013


Resulting Point Spread Function

•  Theor. range resolution (6-dB FW, 27 GHz BW): 1.21 x 5.56 mm = 6.72 mm

•  Measured range resolution: 6.79 mm [Ref] K. Statnikov et al, “A 0.32 THz FMCW Radar System Based on Low-Cost Lens-Integrated SiGe HBT Front-Ends.” ESSCIRC, Oct. 2013


820GHz sub-harmonic chipset

16


A 820GHz SiGe TX chip §  Input 18.3GHz external RF

signal §  Four-channel spatial power

combining for increased output power

Transmitter

17 [Ref] E. Öjefors et al, “A 820GHz SiGe Chipset for Terahertz Active Imaging Applications,” ISSCC 2011


TX Chip

A 820GHz SiGe TX

Simulated directivity of 12dBi

18

-17dBm peak EIRP

§  Max. total output power of -29dBm (or -17dBm EIRP)

§  Control over frequency and phase §  Power consumption of 3.7W and chip

area of 4.3x0.75mm2

[Ref] E. Öjefors et al, “A 820GHz SiGe Chipset for Terahertz Active Imaging Applications,” ISSCC 2011


820GHz SiGe Sub-Harmonic heterodyne RX

19 [Ref] E. Öjefors et al, “A 820GHz SiGe Chipset for Terahertz Active Imaging Applications,” ISSCC 2011

§  Differential 820-GHz RF from antenna mixes in Q1/Q2 with the 5th harmonic of the 162-GHz common-mode LO signal

§  Simulated conversion gain = -15 dB (0dBm LO)


RX antennas and HM arranged as a 2x2 FPA Sim. directivity of 6dBi/Channel

RX Chip

820Hz SiGe RX

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§  Conversion Gain of about -22dB, Noise Figure of about 47dB §  Terahertz frequencies generated on chip around 820GHz §  Power consumption of about 1.2W, chip area 2.3x0.57 (mm2) §  Not scalable design for big arrays

[Ref] E. Öjefors et al, “A 820GHz SiGe Chipset for Terahertz Active Imaging Applications,” ISSCC 2011


Terahertz power detectors in Silicon technologies

21


CMOS FPA Design Summary

[1] U. Pfeiffer und E. Öjefors, A 600-GHz CMOS Focal-Plane. IEEE European Solid-State Circuits Conference, P. 110-113, Sept. 2008

[2] E. Öjefors, N. Baktash, Y. Zhao, R. Al Hadi, H. Sherry und U. Pfeiffer, Terahertz imaging detectors in a 65-nm CMOS SOI technology, IEEE European Solid-State Circuits Conference, Seville, Spain (pp. 486 - 489), September 2010

[4] R. Al Hadi et al, “A Broadband 0.6 to 1 THz CMOS Imaging Detector with an Integrated Lens,” IMS 2011

[5] Pfeiffer, U.R.; Grzyb, J.; Sherry, H.; Cathelin, A.; Kaiser, A., "Toward low-NEP room-temperature THz MOSFET direct detectors in CMOS technology,” IRMMW-THz

[6] H. Sherry et al, “A 1kpixel CMOS camera chip for 25fps real-time terahertz imaging applications,” ISSCC Feb. 2012

2010: 65nm SOI

2011: 65nm Bulk

2008: 250nm

§  650 GHz §  50 pW/√Hz

§  1.027 THz §  66 pW/√Hz

2012: 65nm Bulk

§  856 GHz §  100pW/√Hz

§  650 GHz §  300 pW/√Hz

§  700 GHz §  14pW/√Hz

2013: 65nm Bulk

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Small Arrays Camera

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]


World’s first CMOS THz camera

Key features: §  Active THz real-time imaging at

room temperature §  1024 (32x32) pixels §  65nm CMOS Bulk technology §  2.5µW/pixel power consumption §  0.75-1 THz (3-dB) bandwidth §  40dBi Silicon lens §  Up to 500 fps video mode

─  100-200kV/W (856GHz) ─  10-20nW integr. NEP (856GHz)

§  Non video-mode: ─  140kV/W Rv (856GHz, 5kHz chop.) ─  100pW/√Hz NEP (856GHz, 5kHz

chop.)

Live demo at the Academic Demo Session (ADS) at the ISSCC 2012 Commercially available

23 [Ref] H. Sherry et al, “A 1kpixel CMOS camera chip for 25fps real-time terahertz imaging applications,” ISSCC Feb. 2012


Terahertz Detector Array in a SiGe HBT

§  Part of DOTFIVE project §  IHP 0.25um SiGe process §  3x5 FPA §  NEP of about 50pW/sqrt(Hz)

24 [Ref] R. Al Hadi et al, “A Terahertz Detector Array in a SiGe HBT Technology,” JSSC. 2013


Scalable silicon-based terahertz source array at

half terahertz

25


Half terahertz 4x4 oscillator source array in SiGe

26 [Ref] U. Pfeiffer et al, “A 0.53THz reconfigurable source array with up to 1mW radiated power for terahertz imaging applications in 0.13µm SiGe BiCMOS,” ISSCC 2014


Free-running harmonic oscillators §  Combined Colpitts oscillators

27

120deg 120deg

120deg

120deg 120deg

120deg

180deg

175GHz oscillator

3ed Harmonic extracted

[Ref] U. Pfeiffer et al, “A 0.53THz reconfigurable source array with up to 1mW radiated power for terahertz imaging applications in 0.13µm SiGe BiCMOS,” ISSCC 2014


Source array chip micrograph

28

2 mm

§  Chip area of about 2x2mm2

§  Scalable architecture in pixel count

§  Programmable interface at run time

§  Live demonstration at the ISSCC 2014

2.1

mm



Source array measurements results

29

§ Single pixel characterization § Array Characterization

§  DC power consump.on around 2.5W §  Average of ~60µW/Pixel §  Total output power ~1mW at 0.53THz §  EIRP 25dBm



Summary and conclusion §  Below 240GHz circuit building blocks:

─  160GHz down-converter ─  220GHz multiplier chain

§  240GHz transceivers : ─  Wide usable band for FMCW applications (3mm resolution)

§  820GHz chipset: ─  Demonstration of the technology capability well beyond fT/fmax

§  Power detector FPAs in SiGe technology ─  NEP ~50pW/sqrt(Hz) at 700GHz

§  Source array at half terahertz ─  Up to 1mW output power at 530GHz ─  Scalable in size

mm-Wave and THz circuits in SiGe technologies are a serious alternative for existing systems

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Acknowledgments §  This project has received partial funding

from the European Union's Seventh Program for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement No 316755

§  European Commission under Project DOTFIVE 216110

§  STMicroelectronics, France §  IHP Microelectronics, Germany §  Infineon Technologies, Germany

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Circuit building blocks for millimeter and sub-millimeter …...Sep. 2014, Venice, Italy 240 GHz...

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