A 210–227 GHz Transmitter With Integrated On-Chip Antenna in 90 nm CMOS Technology

Abstract

This paper presents a transmitter operating in the 210-227 GHz in 90 nm CMOS, based on a Colpitts VCO. The third harmonic of the generated VCO fundamental signal is coupled to an on-chip dipole antenna. A simplified model is presented for the operation and the design of the circuit, which compares well with simulated and measured results. The transmitter achieves an EIRP of +1.8 dBm at 217 GHz and directivity of about +10 dBi. The circuit consumes 128 mW of DC power and an area of 0.53 mm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> .