A 2.2 GS/s 188mW spectrometer processor in 65nm CMOS for supporting low-power THz planetary instruments

Abstract

The paper presents a 2.2 GS/s (1.1 GHz Nyquist bandwidth), 188 mW 512-channel spectrometer processor developed to support of future science observations on NASA planetary missions, where payload size, weight, and power consumption are extremely limited. The presented spectrometer processor chip contains a pair of 7 bit ADC IQ converters coupled with a 512 point PSD processor, and averaging accumulator, allowing it to be sensitive enough to detect trace gases like NH3, HCN, and CO2 when coupled to the appropriate band RF front-end receiver. The bandwidth and resolution of the presented processor make it suitable for exploring the composition of planets, moons and their atmospheres throughout our solar system.