A 26-Gb/s 140-GHz OOK CMOS Transmitter and Receiver Chipset for High-Speed Wireless and Dielectric Waveguide Communication

In this work, an energy-efficient on-off keying (OOK) chipset for short-range high data-rate communications is implemented in a 28-nm CMOS technology. A cancellation-based OOK modulator is proposed to support high-speed modulation. The transmitter (TX) includes one compact sub-terahertz (sub-THz) fundamental frequency voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) to reduce power consumption. The receiver (RX) with an adaptive demodulator design and load-optimized single-ended to differential converting active balun supports the high-speed noncoherent demodulation. The proposed sub-THz package scheme solves the high-cost issues brought by the conventional complex package process, which favors efficient sub-THz system integration. The communication link has demonstrated transmission data rates up to 26-Gb/s using OOK modulation over a 1-cm long over-the-air (OTA) distance with a bit error rate (BER) of 1 \times 10 ^{-12} and consumes 162 mW (TX: 99 mW and RX: 63 mW) of power under a 0.9-V supply, achieving a 6.3-pJ/bit energy efficiency. A polymer microwave fiber (PMF) communication link is also presented in this work. The communication distance is extended to 4 m by inserting a dielectric waveguide (DWG) channel between the same chipset. Error-free transmission data rates of 22-/17-/6-Gb/s over 1/2/4 m of DWG channel are achieved.