CMOS Terahertz Receivers

Abstract

Recent advances of devices and circuits have made CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) integrated circuits technology an alternative for realizing capable and affordable THz systems. Coherent detection up to 410 GHz and incoherent detection up to 10 THz as well as an almost fully integrated receiver working from 225-280 GHz have been demonstrated using CMOS. Despite the fact that f(max) of NMOS transistors has peaked around 320 GHz, it should be possible to coherently detect signals at frequencies beyond 1 THz and with some straightforward modification of processes, to incoherently detect signals at 40 THz in CMOS.