W- and D-band spectral measurement station (75-170 GHz)

• Subject Area: Electrical Engineering and Information Technology
• Term: Funded in 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 511745934

The department "Mixed Signal Circuit Design" (MSC) at the Technische Universität Berlin, headed by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Friedel Gerfers, develops circuits and systems for wired and wireless high-speed communication as well as automotive applications with its research groups "Wireline Communication Systems" and "Wireless Communication Systems". Current projects include complete transceivers as well as transceiver components - with data converters as the core competence.Wired projects include transceivers with data rates of up to 224 Gbit/s (112 GBaud PAM4) and components such as VCSELs and optical modulators with symbol rates of up to 150 GBaud to advance the development of current and future transmission technologies in data centers (400 and 800 Gigabit Ethernet). Wireless frequency ranges up to the D-band (with up to 170 GHz) are used for communication systems to be developed with data rates of more than 100 Gbit/s, in particular for the next mobile phone generation "6G". In order to have the characterization capabilities needed for this research, this proposal requests a W- and D-band spectral measurement setup (“W- und D-Band Spektralmessplatz (75-170 GHz)”) and, in a parallel proposal, a 100 GHz real-time measurement setup (“100 GHz Echtzeitmessplatz”).The main components of the W- and D-band spectral measurement setup (75-170 GHz) consist of frequency modulators for the W- and D-band. These modulators, together with the also requested accessories and with an existing S-parameter measurement setup („S-Parametermessplatz“), enable measurements in the corresponding frequency ranges. The existing S-parameter measurement setup consists in particular of a vector network analyzer as well as a mm-wave wafer prober and was funded by a previous major research instrumentation proposal in 2019. However, at that time there was neither the project need nor the funding possibility for the extension to W- and D-band. The current need for the extension to W- and D-band, as well as the applications of the existing S-parameter measurement setup that took place so far are presented in this proposal.The W- and D-band spectral measurement setup (75-170 GHz) is needed in the mentioned current research e.g. to measure matching, gain, bandwidth, transmission behavior as well as compression and intermodulation behavior of amplifiers (e.g. LNA, PA, TWA, TIA). In addition, components such as VCSELs, VCSEL drivers, DACs, AFEs and transmission channels are characterized in terms of matching and bandwidth - also to optimize modeling for the development of corresponding components and entire associated systems. Depending on the application and research project, these components and overall systems operate in frequencies up to 120 GHz (incl. W-band) or 110 to 170 GHz (D-band), which is why the corresponding frequency modulators with accessories are needed and requested in this proposal as W- and D-band spectral measurement setup (75-170 GHz).

• DFG Programme: Major Research Instrumentation
• Major Instrumentation: W- und D-Band Spektralmessplatz (75-170 GHz)
• Instrumentation Group: 2730 Modulatoren, Frequenzhub- und -modulationsmeßgeräte
• Applicant Institution: Technische Universität Berlin
• Leader: Professor Dr.-Ing. Friedel Gerfers