A Sub-THz CMOS Transceiver IC and System for Medium-Reach Guided Wave and Short-Reach Wireless Communication Links

A sub-THz guided-wave, wireless communication system based on a fully integrated 140-GHz transceiver IC implemented in 65-nm CMOS technology is presented. The transceiver is targeted for medium-reach wireline communications over a plastic dielectric waveguide (DWG) and, short-reach wireless. The antenna configurations for the two use cases have been integrated into the IC's package substrate. Designed and realized mono-mode and multi-mode DWGs are measured to have superior bending losses compared to optical cables, support <3dB/m loss and <40ps group-delay variation in the 140-220GHz WR5 band, indicating potential for robust, low-loss/cost, superior pJ/bit guided sub-THz conduits supporting the fast-burgeoning broadband data need. Using BPSK modulation of the 140-GHz carrier, 16-Gb/s with BER of 9.3×10-
¹²
over a 1m distance of DWG and wireless data transfer of 10.8-Gb/s with BER of 1.6×10
⁻¹¹
over 2.5cm distance is demonstrated. For a uni-directional link the transmitter and receiver components consume 520-mA from 1.4-V supply.