Sub-mm-Wave Silicon Based Source Array

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Title: Sub-mm-Wave Silicon Based Source Arrays

Prof. M.-C. Frank Chang, University of California, Los Angeles, USA

Prof. Richard Al Hadi, Université du Québec, ÉTS, Montreal, Canada

Abstract

 This talk presents an overview of research on the design and implementation of a sub-mm-Wave integrated signal generator in silicon technology. The presentation will cover the design methodology, electromagnetic modeling, simulations, and measurement results developed over recent years. A novel beamforming technique, called Y-vector network, will be introduced. This technique minimizes chip area and DC power consumption and eliminates the need for traditional adjustable phase shifters at multi-channel front ends, which typically suffer from high insertion loss at these frequencies. A compact 1x4 Beam Steering Phased Array (BSPA) is validated at 0.55THz with an approximately ±30° steering angle range. Additionally, the talk will present a generator array with a frequency stabilization loop, based on a multi-radiator PLL (MR-PLL) harmonic oscillator designed in standard 65-nm CMOS technology. Achieving the ability to lock multiple frontend oscillators to a common frequency is a challenging design requirement, ensuring precise timing, synchronization, and coherent signal transmission across the chip. The designed MR-PLL addresses this critical requirement, providing a reliable implementation at the targeted mm-Wave frequencies (540-560GHz).

Bio

 Dr. M. C. Frank Chang is the Wintek Chair in Electrical Engineering and Distinguished Professor at UCLA.  Throughout his career, he has focused on the research & development of high-speed semiconductor devices and integrated circuits for radio, radar, imager, spectrometer, and interconnect System-on-Chip applications. He invented the multiband, reconfigurable RF-Interconnects for Chip-Multi-Processor (CMP) inter-core communications and inter-chip CPU-to-Memory communications. He and his students were the 1^st to demonstrate CMOS active and passive imagers at 100-180GHz. His Lab also pioneered the development of self-healing 57-64GHz radio-on-a-chip (DARPA’s HEALICS program) with embedded sensors, actuators and self-diagnosis/curing capabilities; and invented the Digitally Controlled Artificial Dielectric (DiCAD) embedded in CMOS technologies to vary transmission-line permittivity in real-time (up to 20X in practice) for realizing reconfigurable multiband/mode radios in (sub)-mm-Wave bands. His UCLA Lab also realized the first CMOS Frequency Synthesizer for Terahertz operation (PLL at 560GHz). More recently, his Lab has devised a Reconfigurable Convolution Neuron Network (RCNN) Accelerator for AIoT applications, spun-off an Edge-AI company Kneron in San Diego, and won IEEE’s 2021 Darlington Best Paper Award. He is a Member of the US National Academy of Engineering. He was also recognized by the IEEE David Sarnoff Award (2006), IET JJ Thomson Medal for Electronics (2017), and IEEE/RSE (Royal Society Edinburgh) James Clerk Maxwell Medal (2023) for his seminal contributions to the heterojunction technology and realizations of (sub)-mm-Wave System-on-Chip with unprecedented bandwidth and re-configurability.

Dr. Richard Al Hadi is an Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering at Université du Québec, ÉTS, Montreal. He received the engineering diploma from Caen's National Graduate School of Engineering in Electronics and Applied Physics and the master’s degree from the University of Caen, France, in 2009. He received the Ph.D. degree, summa cum laude, from the University of Wuppertal, Germany, in 2014. Dr. Al Hadi joined University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 2015 as a postdoctoral research fellow. He was leading the effort at Alcatera Inc, a technology focus company, between 2017-2022. Dr. Al Hadi is a senior IEEE society member and is the co-recipient of the 2012 Jan Van Vessem Award for the Outstanding European Paper at the IEEE International Solid-State Circuit Conference and the 2014 EuCAP best paper award.