A 56.32 Gb/s 16-QAM D-band Wireless Link using RX-TX Systems- in-Package with Integrated Multi-LO Generators in 45nm RFSOI

Abstract

This paper presents an energy-efficient wideband D- band wireless link using receiver (RX) and transmitter (TX) modules based on a channel-bonding scheme. The modules include RX and TX integrated circuits (ICs) fabricated in 45nm CMOS RFSOI technology. They are mounted on low-cost multi-layer printed circuit boards (PCBs) and connected to patch antennas. The RX and TX ICs are composed of two down-conversion and up-conversion chains, respectively, operating over contiguous sub- bands around 147.96 GHz. The required multiple millimeter-wave local oscillator signals (LOs)are generated on-chip. The presented wireless system achieves a data rate of 56.32 Gb/s by using 16 QAM modulation over 8 radiofrequency (RF) channels, with a competitive energy consumption (RX+TX) of 18 pJ/bit, including the LOs generation circuitry.