Mutual Synchronization for Power Generation and Beam-Steering in CMOS With On-Chip Sense Antennas Near 200 GHz

In this paper, we introduce the concept of near-field synchronization as an efficient, scalable, and robust method to synchronize a 2-D array of mutually coupled oscillators for beam-forming at frequencies above f max of a technology. The method employs an array of on-chip sense antennas to probe el...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE transactions on microwave theory and techniques 2015-09, Vol.63 (9), p.2867-2876
Main Authors: Sengupta, Kaushik, Hajimiri, Ali
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Antenna radiation patterns
Arrays
Beam-forming
beam-steering
CMOS
Couplings
Electronics industry
Harmonic analysis
millimeter wave
near-field
on-chip antenna
Oscillators
power combining
power generation
substrate modes
Synchronization
terahertz
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Summary:In this paper, we introduce the concept of near-field synchronization as an efficient, scalable, and robust method to synchronize a 2-D array of mutually coupled oscillators for beam-forming at frequencies above f max of a technology. The method employs an array of on-chip sense antennas to probe electromagnetic near-fields of the on-chip radiators. These sense antennas are then coupled to each other appropriately through a network that establishes the synchronized state as the lowest energy state. A circuit-electromagnetic co-design methodology is employed to demonstrate beam-steering near 200 GHz with a synchronized 2 × 2 array. Each element of the array is a traveling-wave oscillator with the nonlinear active devices selectively radiating its second harmonic through the same electromagnetic structure. The beam-pattern can be varied by more than 70 ° in both azimuth and elevation. The chip is realized in 65-nm bulk CMOS.
ISSN:0018-9480
1557-9670
DOI:10.1109/TMTT.2015.2457902