Adaptive Millimetre-wave Integrated TranSmitters

• Applicants: Professor Dr.-Ing. Frank Ellinger; Professor Dr.-Ing. Thomas Zwick
• Subject Area: Electronic Semiconductors, Components and Circuits, Integrated Systems, Sensor Technology, Theoretical Electrical Engineering
• Term: from 2018 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 394221495

• Final Report Year: 2023

Final Report Abstract

The project aimed to enhance the state of research in above 200 GHz communication systems, which this project achieved significantly. New innovative circuit topologies as well as the currently best BPSK-transmitter were investigated and published. Several new packaging concepts were explored to exploit the full potential of the transmitter chip. Furthermore, we demonstrated one of the first true phased array systems with complete data rate experiments over steering angle and range. The data link was tested over a range of up to 4 m without using high-gain lenses on the transmitter side, showcasing the feasibility of integration within practical systems such as smartphones or computers.

Publications

• A Low-Power 255-GHz Single-Stage Frequency Quadrupler in 130-nm SiGe BiCMOS. IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters, 30(11), 1101-1104.
  Steinweg, Luca; Riesb, Vincent; Starke, Paul; Testa, Paolo Valerio; Carta, Corrado & Ellinger, Frank
  
• Design and modelling of magnetic on-chip structures at 240 GHz. 2020 German Microwave Conference, Cottbus, Germany, 2020, pp. 172-175.
  J. Hebeler; T. Zwick & A. Ç. Ulusoy
  
• A 213 GHz 2 dBm Output-Power Frequency Quadrupler with 45 dB Harmonic Suppression in 130 nm SiGe BiCMOS. ESSCIRC 2021 -IEEE 47th European Solid State Circuits Conference (ESSCIRC), 447-450. IEEE.
  Steinweg, Luca; Testa, Paolo Valerio; Carta, Corrado & Ellinger, Frank
  
• A 5 dBm BiCMOS 90° Phase Shifter with Single-Voltage Tuning for mm-Wave Beam Steering. 2021 International Conference on Microelectronics (ICM), 174-177. IEEE.
  Steinweg, Luca; Testa, Paolo Valerio; Carta, Corrado & Ellinger, Frank
  
• A 0.2 dBm 225 GHz Frequency Quadrupler with 330° Phase Control in 130 nm SiGe BiCMOS. 2022 IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems (ISCAS), 434-437. IEEE.
  Steinweg, Luca; Protze, Florian; Testa, Paolo Valerio; Carta, Corrado & Ellinger, Frank
  
• A 100-GHz-RF-Bandwidth Up-Conversion Mixer in 130 nm SiGe BiCMOS. 2022 29th IEEE International Conference on Electronics, Circuits and Systems (ICECS), 1-4. IEEE.
  Steinweg, Luca; Carta, Corrado & Ellinger, Frank
  
• Active BALUN with 40 GHz bandwidth at 257 GHz in 130 nm SiGe:C. 2022 IEEE 22nd Topical Meeting on Silicon Monolithic Integrated Circuits in RF Systems (SiRF), 9-12. IEEE.
  Hebeler, Joachim; Ulusoy, Ahmet Cagri & Zwick, Thomas
  
• Comparison of a Copper and Aluminium SiGe BEOL option for power amplifiers above 200 GHz. 2022 24th International Microwave and Radar Conference (MIKON), 1-5. IEEE.
  Hebeler, Joachim; Ulusoy, Ahmet Cagri & Zwick, Thomas
  
• Differential bondwire interface for chip-to-chip and chip-to-antenna interconnect above 200 GHz. 2022 52nd European Microwave Conference (EuMC), 306-309. IEEE.
  Hebeler, Joachim; Steinweg, Luca & Zwick, Thomas
  
• 8.0-pJ/bit BPSK Transmitter With LO Phase Steering and 52-Gbps Data Rate Operating at 246 GHz. IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, 71(7), 3217-3226.
  Steinweg, Luca; Hebeler, Joachim; Meister, Tilo; Zwick, Thomas & Ellinger, Frank