Wireless Chip-to-Chip Communication: Terahertz Short Range

摘要（提案编号1201755）集成电路（例如CPU和外围模块）之间的通信通过高速总线进行，这需要印刷电路板上的物理走线。 在大多数移动的计算和通信平台中，诸如智能电话或平板电脑，形状因子受到连接到该总线的要求的约束。 我们提出了一个sub-THz（~300 GHz）无线总线，消除了这一限制，允许集成电路被放置在设备内部的任何地方，无线和自动建立通信链路。 将探索新的电路、天线和系统架构，以实现这种系统的关键组件的节能。 240 GHz和360 GHz的两个原型将证明该提议的可行性。智力优势：所描述的技术可能对新一代超薄和小型设备的设计产生巨大影响，允许芯片放置在最佳位置，无论是增加设计的美观性还是实现更好的工程。 该链路使用标准CMOS技术的片上电子器件和天线，使用亚THz频谱（~300 GHz）建立。 为了与有线链路竞争，链路必须非常节能，并且在硅芯片上占用的空间不能比现有系统更大。 亚太赫兹频率下的LNA实际上非常小，其大小可以与用于连接到物理迹线的传统焊盘相媲美。 此外，由于大的载波频率，仅需要适度的分数带宽来支持使用简单调制方案的高吞吐量。 更广泛的影响：无线通信是一个快速增长的领域，其对国民经济的重要性怎么强调都不为过。在过去的几十年中，半导体行业主要由数字微处理器市场驱动，而今天，便携式设备上的高性能计算与语音和数据通信的结合是主要驱动力。 这项研究的目的是推进国家？聪明吗？手机、平板电脑和超便携笔记本电脑。 无线芯片到芯片通信信道或无线总线将使集成电路最小化（通过去除IO焊盘/引脚），允许以增加的灵活性使用板面积，减少印刷电路板中的平面数量并减少所需的浪费量。

Abstract (Proposal No.1201755)Communication between integrated circuits, such as the CPU and peripheral blocks, occurs over a high-speed bus, which requires physical wire traces on a printed circuit board. In most mobile computing and communication platforms, such as a smart phone or tablet, the form factor is constrained by the requirement to connect to this bus. We propose a sub-THz (~300 GHz) wireless bus that eliminates this constraint, allowing integrated circuits to be placed anywhere inside of the device with communication links established wirelessly and automatically. New circuit, antenna, and system architectures will be explored to enable an energy efficient realization of the key components of such a system. Two prototypes at 240 GHz and 360 GHz will demonstrate the feasibility of the proposal.Intellectual Merit: The described technology could have tremendous impact on the design of a new generation of ultra thin and small devices, allowing chips to be placed in the most optimal positions, either to increase the aesthetics of the design or enable better engineering. The link is established using the sub-THz frequency spectrum (~300 GHz) using on-chip electronics and antennas in standard CMOS technology. To be competitive with the wired links, the link must be extremely energy efficient and must not occupy a bigger footprint on the silicon die than existing systems. Antennas at sub-THz frequencies are in fact extremely small and can be comparable in size to traditional bonding pads, which are used to connect to the physical traces. Moreover, due to the large carrier frequency, only modest fractional bandwidth is needed to support high throughputs using simple modulation schemes. Broader Impacts: Wireless communication is a rapidly growing field and its importance to the national economy cannot be overstated. While in the previous decades the semiconductor industry was driven largely by the digital microprocessor market, today the combination of high performance computation on a portable device combined with voice and data communication is the major driver. This research is intended to advance the state of ?smart? phones, tablets, and ultra-portable laptops. A wireless chip-to-chip communication channel, or a wireless bus, will enable integrated circuits to be minimized (by removing IO pads/pins), allow the board real-estate to be used with increased flexibility, reducing the number of planes in the printed circuit board and reduce the required amount of waste.