Shock-wave Transceiver Integration for Mm-wave Active Sensing Applications : Invited Paper

In this paper, several shock-wave generator schemes in mm-wave frequencies integrated in Bi-CMOS/CMOS as well as CMOS-quartz packaging processes are reviewed. Shock-wave generator techniques are generally divided in voltage-mode and electric current-mode. In voltage-mode, damping RLC circuits are employed to generate mm-wave shock-waves in both parallel and serial configurations. In addition, a positive feedback shock-wave generator to spark an LC circuit and then generate a shock pulse is presented. The circuit does not need any edge-sharpener circuit or over-sized transistors and hence requires a small chip area. Current-mode shock wave generator is presented by a combination of a CMOS excitation circuit and an on-quartz transmission line resonator. Testing prototypes are fabricated, measured, and verified. These proposed shock-wave generators are suitable for transmitter design in low-cost low-power broadband sensing applications.