Sub-THz scalable Sensor-SoC

近年来，硅基半导体技术的不断进步使得毫米波区域完整收发器的首次实现成为可能。主要重点是60 GHz短距离通信和77 GHz汽车雷达应用。SiGe BiCMOS作为CMOS和硅锗（SiGe）技术的结合，具有高频特性好、集成度高、制造成本低等优点。当前传感器研究的主要挑战之一是将120 GHz以上的频段开放到太赫兹范围，这将通过额外的天线结构集成提供前所未有的分辨率水平和极高的小型化潜力。在这些频率区域实现系统的障碍在于所需集成电子信号源的输出功率和信号质量，以及集成接收机或探测器的灵敏度。以往对200 GHz以上SiGe和CMOS集成信号源的研究工作，其特点是输出功率非常低。最近，在SiGe中首次推出了频率范围高达100 GHz的晶圆级功率组合系统。这些系统解决了低输出功率的问题，但没有波束控制功能。此外，还给出了相控阵发射机前端。然而，这些先前的工作都是一个次优的天线阵列概念，只需要不必要的努力就可以获得良好的角度性能。该研究项目的目标是通过采用高度现代化的SiGe BiCMOS技术的智能片上天线阵列设计，研究具有波束成形功能的高度集成、灵活和可扩展的320 GHz收发器结构。研究包括在单个mmic上设计最小冗余阵列作为集成子阵列。通过扩展这些mmic可以生成任意大的阵列排列。调制方案的灵活性也是本课题研究的重点。通过额外的电路模块，新系统应该能够在mimo配置中作为FMCW或Chirp序列以及PN系统（伪噪声）运行。

In recent years, the continuous advance in the silicon-based semiconductor technology has allowed first implementations of complete transceivers in millimeter-wave region. The main focus was on 60 GHz short range communication and 77 GHz automotive radar applications. SiGe BiCMOS as a combination of CMOS and silicon germanium (SiGe) technology offers the advantages of good high frequency characteristics with high integration level and low manufacturing cost. One of the major challenges in the current sensor research is opening up the frequency bands above 120 GHz into the THz range, which offers an unprecedented level of resolution and an extremely high miniaturization potential by the additional integration of the antenna structures.The obstacles of the realization of systems in these frequency regions lie in the output power and signal quality of the required integrated electronic signal sources as well as in the sensitivity of the integrated receivers or detectors. The previous research works on integrated signal sources in SiGe and CMOS at frequencies above 200 GHz are characterized by very low output powers. Recently first wafer-scale power combining systems in SiGe in the frequency range up to 100 GHz were introduced. These systems address the problem of low output power, but have no beamsteering functionality. Furthermore, phased-array transmitter frontends were presented. However, these previous works were characterized by a sub-optimal antenna array concept, which enables a good angular performance only by unnecessary effort.The goals of this research project are the studies of design of highly integrated flexible and scalable 320 GHz transceiver structures with beamforming functionality through an intelligent on-chip antenna array design using a highly modern SiGe BiCMOS technology. The studies include the design of minimum-redundancy arrays on individual MMICs as integrated sub-arrays. Arbitrarily large array arrangements can be generated by scaling these MMICs. The flexibility of the modulation scheme belongs also to the key issues of this project. Through additional circuit blocks, the new system should be able to be operated both as FMCW or Chirp Sequence as well as PN system (pseudo noise) in a MIMO-configuration.