Energy-Efficient Terahertz Electronics Using Multi-Functional Electromagnetism and High-Parallelism Architecture

摘要

This paper describes two approaches to increase the energy efficiency of on-chip terahertz (THz) integrated circuits and systems. First, we present designs of multi-functional electromagnetic structures that utilize mode orthogonality and near-field interference to achieve simultaneous oscillation, harmonic generation, signal filtering and radiation. This leads to ultra-compact THz circuits with low passive loss. Our radiator arrays using such approach achieve 0.1 mW and 3.3 mW of total radiated power at 1.01 THz and 0.32 THz, respectively, representing the highest radiated power in silicon in their frequency ranges. Next, we also present a highly-parallel architecture for broadband spectral scanning, which breaks the long-standing efficiency-bandwidth tradeoff. Our CMOS spectrometer and its associated dual-frequency-comb gas sensing scheme achieve rapid and seamless coverage of 220 to 320-GHz band with 5.2-mW total radiated power (TX) and a minimum of 14.6-dB noise figure (RX). These approaches, leveraging the high integration capability of silicon circuits, are proved to be highly effective towards energy-efficient THz microsystems for new paradigms of sensing and communications.