EAGER: High Performance Silicon based Terahertz Front End Circuits for Chip-to-Chip Interconnect

EARGER：用于芯片到芯片互连的高性能硅基太赫兹前端电路摘要智能优点：该建议的目标是研究基于硅基的太赫兹前端电路设计技术，这些技术最终将导致太赫兹互连并解决长期存在的互连问题。芯片间的互连间隙是指不断增长的带宽需求和有限的I/O引脚数量之间的差距，几十年来一直是计算机和嵌入式系统的瓶颈，随着先进技术处理速度的提高，芯片之间的互连间隙变得越来越具有挑战性。太赫兹频谱在芯片到芯片互连领域有着巨大的前景，因为它的超宽带支持比现有互连能力高出数量级的聚合数据速率。作为计算机和嵌入式系统的主流技术，硅工艺是正确的技术。然而，硅工艺的缺点，如低电源电压、大损耗和低截止频率，需要新的设计思想来克服这些不足。因此，本项目将研究两种使能技术：(1)基于LO注入肖特基势垒二极管(SBD)的混频与高效再生放大接收前端设计，成功展示了再生接收结构；(2)大功率THz发射机前端电路，基于成熟的基于最佳信号条件的高功率发电方案和基于低损耗变容二极管的调制方法。电路设计技术和方法具有变革性，也适用于不同工艺中的其他高频电路和系统。广泛的影响：硅基THz前端电路的成功最终将导致THz互连，提供数量级更高的互连带宽密度，以解决互连的瓶颈问题。因此，它将支持新的计算机架构，以满足大数据时代快速增长的数据速率要求。此外，成功的技术开发还将通过发展高功率、低噪音和小尺寸的太赫兹技术，为各种重要的其他太赫兹应用打开巨大的机会。例如，它可以使便携式太赫兹设备用于太赫兹医疗诊断，以便及早发现疾病；它可以通过太赫兹监测设备推进制药和药物开发。这些应用不仅将推动科学研究，而且将极大地造福于我们的日常生活和社会。研究成果将通过国际会议和影响较大的期刊广泛传播。这两个私人机构都致力于吸引和留住代表人数不足的群体的学生进入工程领域，并将进一步扩大到当地K-12学校的学生。

EAGER: High Performance Silicon based Terahertz Front End Circuits for Chip-to-Chip Interconnect AbstractIntellectual Merit: The objective of this EAGER proposal is to investigate silicon based terahertz front end circuit design techniques, which will eventually lead to THz interconnects and solve the long-standing interconnect issue. The Chip-to-chip interconnect gap, which is between the ever-increasing bandwidth requirement and the limited number of I/O pins, has been a bottleneck for computer and embedded systems over decades and is getting more and more challenging with the increase of processing speed in advanced technologies. The THz spectrum holds great promise in the chip-to-chip interconnect area due to its ultra-wide bandwidth to support aggregate data rates orders of magnitude higher than existing interconnect capabilities. As the mainstream technologies for computer and embedded systems, silicon processes are the right technologies. However, the disadvantages of silicon processes, such as low supply voltages, large losses, and low cut-off frequencies, demand new design ideas to overcome these shortages. Therefore, this project will investigate two enabling techniques: (1) LO injected Schottky barrier diode (SBD) based mixing with high efficiency regenerative amplification receiving front end design, successfully demonstrated regenerative receiving structure; and (2) high power THz transmitter front end circuits, based on the proven high power generation scheme based on optimum signal conditions and low loss varactor-based modulation method. The circuit design techniques and methodologies are transformative, which can also apply to other high frequency circuits and systems in different processes.Broader Impacts: The success of silicon based THz front end circuits will eventually lead to THz interconnects, providing orders-of-magnitude better interconnect bandwidth density to address the bottleneck problem from interconnects. Therefore, it will support new computer architecture to meet the fast increasing data rate requirement in BIG DATA era. Furthermore, the successful technology developments will also open tremendous opportunities for a wide variety of important other THz applications by advancing THz technologies with high power, low noise and small form factors. For instance, it can enable portable THz devices for THz medical diagnosis for early disease detection; it can advance pharmaceutical and drug development through THz monitoring devices. These applications will not only advance scientific research, but also greatly benefit our daily lives and societies. The research results will be widely disseminated through international conferences and high impact journals. Both PIs are committed to engaging and retaining students from under-represented groups into engineering areas and will further extend outreach to local K-12 school students.