Wafer Scale Distributed Radio

摘要

Modem silicon technology offers ultrafast transistors, with fT > 200 GHz in today's 45nm CMOS and fT > 300 GHz in SiGe. While extremely fast, these transistors suffer from several limitations which affect the performance of high dynamic range analog and RF circuits. Principally, the low supply voltage hampers the dynamic range, and, combined with the low intrinsic gain, high variability of nanoscale transistors, and increasing 1 = f noise due to high-K materials, it becomes clear that analog operations are increasingly difficult to realize in silicon. In RF applications, the modest noise performance in the microwave and mm-wave band (operating close to fT) has limited the application of silicon technology to short range wireless systems. In this project we explore the potential for a new kind of wafer scale distributed radio that can overcome the limitations of silicon by exploiting its high levels of integration and a more intimate relationship between the electronics and electromagnetic structures.