Current Status of Terahertz Integrated Circuits - From Components to Systems

Despite its several applications, terahertz (THz) radiation has posed a particular challenge for hardware design. Several expensive and bulky laser or III-V semiconductor based solutions have been employed for THz systems. However, over the last decade, there has been a tremendous research into the design of THz integrated circuits in commercial silicon CMOS and SiGe HBT BiCMOS process technologies. Silicon based systems primarily benefit from the mixed signal integration capabilities of the technology, which enable a new set of possibilities and applications in the THz domain. In this paper, we review the current status of THz integrated circuits. We discuss trends in silicon based THz sources and receivers, as well as different THz on-chip systems that have been reported so far for different application areas.