SBIR Phase I: Integrated Millimeter-Wave Electronic Photonic System on a CHIP (EPSOC)

这个小企业创新研究第一阶段项目将开发用于毫米波成像的电子-光子芯片系统（EPSOC）。毫米波（mmW）成像是一种用于退化视觉环境下成像和检测的使能技术。然而，毫米波光谱中发射的能量大约比红外光谱中发射的能量低8个数量级。因此，被动毫米波成像只有在具有非常高灵敏度和通道间稳定性的毫米波接收器上才可行。我们提出的方法克服了传统毫米波接收器的局限性，利用光子技术将毫米波辐射上转换为光学频率，从而大大提高了灵敏度。该系统集成在3D混合电子-光子芯片上，并保持接收到的毫米波信号的相位信息，从而消除了集成机械扫描仪的需要，从而减小了整个系统的尺寸和重量。此外，我们的EPSOC利用硅技术的扩展技术来提供高性能（fT和fmax频率高达300和400 GHz），集成密度和有利的规模经济。因此，拟议的EPSOC结构紧凑（2mmx2mm），与目前市场上现有的毫米波成像仪相比，性能提高了5倍（在33Hz速率下的0.1K-0.2K温度灵敏度）。该项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是开发用于毫米波成像的低成本硅电子光子网络芯片（EPSOC）。传统的毫米波成像仪基于高增益III-V放大器，这些放大器噪声大，难以密集集成到焦平面阵列系统中。这些系统不保持相位信息，这就需要使用扫描仪，使它们体积大，速度慢，功率要求高。相比之下，我们的混合硅电子-光子方法确保了密集集成，并使用光子移相器，这将消除集成机械扫描仪的需要。EPSOC将对需要毫米波灵敏度的广泛应用领域产生影响，包括天文学、空中侦察、对峙威胁检测、门户筛选、持续监视、态势感知和在没有GPS信号的情况下的视频成像导航。此外，对于需要通过烟雾、雾、沙尘暴、云和介电材料（包括塑料和衣服）进行高分辨率成像的应用，它将特别有用。最后，本计画将证明具有高灵敏度、稳定性和集成度的片上三维电子-光子系统的可行性。这也可以应用到其他领域，如射频通信和信号处理。

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will develop an Electronic-Photonic System on Chip (EPSOC) for millimeter wave imaging. Millimeter-wave (mmW) imaging is an enabling technology for imaging and detection in degraded visual environments. However, the energy emitted in the mmW spectrum is approximately eight orders of magnitude lower than the energy emitted in the infrared spectrum. Consequently, passive mmW imaging is only viable with mmW receivers with very high sensitivity and inter-channel stability. Our proposed approach overcomes the limitations of traditional mmW receivers by using photonic technologies to up-convert the mmW radiation to optical frequencies, enabling a dramatic increase in sensitivity. The proposed system is integrated on a 3D hybrid electronic-photonic chip and maintains the phase information from the received mmW signals, thereby eliminating the need to integrate mechanical scanners, which reduces the overall system size and weight. Furthermore, our EPSOC leverages advances in the scaling of silicon technologies to provide high performance (fT and fmax frequency up to 300 and 400 GHz), integration density, and favorable economies of scale. Consequently, the proposed EPSOC is compact (2mmx2mm) and provides 5X better performance (0.1K-0.2K temperature sensitivity at a 33Hz rate) compared to existing mmW imagers on the market today.The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is the development of a low-cost Silicon Electronic Photonic Network on Chip (EPSOC) for millimeter wave imaging. Traditional mmW imagers are based on high gain III-V amplifiers that are noisy and difficult to integrate densely into focal plane array systems. These systems do not maintain phase information, which necessitates the use of scanners, making them bulky and slow with high power requirements. In contrast, our hybrid silicon electronic-photonic approach ensures dense integration, and uses photonic phase shifters, which will eliminate the need to integrate mechanical scanners. The EPSOC will have an impact on a broad range of application areas that require mmW sensitivity including astronomy, aerial reconnaissance, stand-off threat detection, portal screening, persistent surveillance, situational awareness, and video imaging navigation in the absence of GPS signals. Furthermore, it will be particularly useful for applications that require high resolution imaging through smoke, fog, sandstorms, clouds and dielectric materials including plastic and clothing. Lastly, this project will demonstrate the feasibility of 3D electronic-photonic systems on chip with high sensitivity, stability and integration density. This would have applications to other areas as well, such as, RF communications and signal processing.