On-chip transmitter with an EIRP of +2.8 dBm at 217 GHz in 90 nm CMOS

In this paper, we present a transmitter operating in the 210-227 GHz in 90-nm CMOS, based on a Colpitts VCO. The third harmonic of the generated VCO fundamental signal is coupled to an on-chip dipole antenna. The silicon substrate of the CMOS chip is thinned from 280 μm to 80 μm in order to improve the performance of the transmitter in terms of effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP) and directivity. The transmitter achieves an EIRP of +2.8 dBm at 217 GHz and a directivity of about +13.1 dBi with a total power radiated of -10.3 dBm. The circuit consumes 134 mW of DC power and an area of 0.53 mm².