RF, mm-wave and THz circuits 
Wireline and Optical Circuits The increasing demand for the data rate has made higher mm-wave frequencies favorable due to the larger available bandwidth with future applications such as 6G targeting D-band frequencies (110-170 GHz). The recently released IEEE 802.15.3d covers a frequency range from 252 to 325 GHz, which offers an even larger bandwidth than the previously explored D-band range.
The research aims to explore the use of 16nm FinFET in the design of a transmitter and receiver operating between 250-325 GHz. Deep scaled CMOS processes possesses extra challenges on the design of circuits above 200 GHz, especially as we approach to the fmax of the process. However, it also comes with the unique property of allowing the integration of higher-performance digital circuits compared to 40 and 28nm counterparts.
A pair of TX-RX chipsets are designed and fabricated in 16nm FinFET CMOS. Both chips are characterized standalone in a probe station. The TX achieves an output power of -19 dBm at 270 GHz center frequency with a 3-dB bandwidth of 45 GHz. The RX has a conversion gain of 31 dB with a baseband bandwidth of 0-25 GHz. The performance of the RX is verified with modulated measurements, with up to 20 Gbps NRZ at 280 GHz carrier, limited by the measurement setup.
B. Gungor and P. Reynaert, "Non-Coherent TX-RX Chipsets for J-band Communication in 16-nm FinFET CMOS," 2024 IEEE Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits Symposium (RFIC), Washington, DC, USA, 2024, pp. 75-78, doi: 10.1109/RFIC61187.2024.10599983.
