TI Creates Thz-band Emitter in 45nm Process

EETimes: TI has demonstrated an essential element of THz imaging - a single-chip emitter created in cooperation with Texas Analog Center of Excellence at the University of Texas at Dallas. TI's terahertz-range emitter uses a multiplying PLL with two frequency dividers in the feedback loop to create 390GHz frequency. The power emanating from the on-chip antenna was 2.2 uW.

The world's first CMOS PLL-based terahertz emitter in 45-nm process
with on-chip antenna.

"The FCC defines the terahertz range to be from 300 GHz to 3 THz," said Eunyoung Seok, a design engineer at TI's Kilby Labs. "For the future, we want to use TI's 45-nanometer process to cover more of this wider frequency range, as well as to increase our output power." The researchers believe that improvements will enable the CMOS emitter to reach 600 GHz or higher.