Research on Silicon‐Based Terahertz Communication Integrated Circuits

Abstract

With the increasing number of users and emerging new applications, the demand for mobile data traffic is growing rapidly. The limited spectrum resources of the traditional microwave and millimeter-wave frequency bands can no longer support the future wireless communication systems with higher system capacity and data throughput. The terahertz (THz) frequency bands have abundant spectrum resources, which can provide sufficient bandwidth to expand channel capacity and increase transmission data rate. In addition, with the rapid development of silicon-based semiconductor technology, its characteristic size keeps decreasing, and the radio frequency performance of active devices is gradually approaching the performance of III-V semiconductor technology. The realization of THz communication systems based on low-cost, high-stability, and easy-to-integrate silicon-based process has become a feasible solution. This review summarizes the reported silicon-based THz communication systems, as well as the key sub-circuit chips in these systems, including the local oscillator, power amplifier, low noise amplifier, on-chip antenna and transceiver chip, etc.