RESUMEN
Over the past 15 years, the output power of silicon submillimeter-wave electronics has increased by a factor greater than 1000 reaching -3.9 dBm at 440 GHz for a single unit in CMOS and -10.7 dBm at 1.01 THz for a 42-element array in SiGe BiCMOS. The smallest power of a 1 kHz bandwidth signal at 420 GHz that can be detected has improved by 100 million times. These and the expected improvements from the ongoing activities should be sufficient to support high resolution imaging with a range of up to several hundred meters, gas sensing up to â¼1 THz, and communication over â¼1000 m. The silicon IC technologies enable integration of complex systems into a small form factor and reduction of manufacturing cost. When broad deployment of submillimeter wave systems for everyday life applications becomes necessary, the silicon IC infrastructure will be the most capable to support the high-volume manufacturing need.
RESUMEN
Optical methods for measuring of the emission spectra of oscillator circuits operating in the 400-600 GHz range are described. The emitted power from patch antennas included in the circuits is measured by placing the circuit in the source chamber of a Fourier-transform interferometric spectrometer. The results show that this optical technique is useful for measuring circuits pushing the frontier in operating frequency. The technique also allows the characterization of the circuit by measuring the power radiated in the fundamental and in the harmonics. This capability is useful for oscillator architectures designed to cancel the fundamental and use higher harmonics. The radiated power was measured using two techniques: direct measurement of the power by placing the device in front of a bolometer of known responsivity, and by comparison to the estimated power from blackbody sources. The latter technique showed that these circuits have higher emission than blackbody sources at the operating frequencies, and, therefore, offer potential spectroscopy applications.