8Gbps CMOS ASK modulator for 60GHz wireless communication

In this paper we present a millimeter-wave CMOS amplitude-shift-keying (ASK) modulator for 60 GHz wireless communication at greater than 1 Gbps. It is designed using shunt NMOSFET switches between the signal and the ground line of a transmission line. A reduced-switch architecture is used to achieve high speed. The transmission line length between switches is adjusted to achieve high isolation with a reduced number of switches. A 60 GHz millimeter-wave ASK modulator is successfully realized by using a 6-metal 1-poly 90 nm CMOS process. The size of the chip is 0.8 mm times 0.48 mm including the pads. The core size is 0.61 mm times 0.3 mm. The isolation and maximum data rate of the modulator at 60 GHz are measured to be 26.6 dB and 8 Gbps, respectively. The product of the maximum data rate and the isolation of this modulator is 170 GHz, which is the highest value among over-Gbps ASK modulators.