InP circuits set 40Gbps wireless data record
A research group from Chalmers University (Gothenburg, Sweden) and Ericsson has developed a wireless transmit and receive circuits that operate at 140GHz. The electromagnetic spectrum above 100GHz contains many empty frequencies and if carrier modulation can be supported would inherently support gigabit per second data rates.
"We have designed circuits for signals at 140 Gigahertz, where we have a large bandwidth. In laboratory testing, we have achieved a transmission rate of 40 Gigabit data per second, which is twice as fast as the previous world record at a comparable frequency," says Herbert Zirath, who is a professor in high-speed electronics at Chalmers and works part time at Ericsson Research.
Zirath said semiconductor materials development has enabled manufacture of the circuits, which are fabricated in indium phosphide. The photo shows the 140 GHz transmitter chip, containing an I-Q modulator, a 3-stage amplifier, and a x3 frequency multiplier for the local oscillator. The chip was designed by Sona Carpenter, Herbert Zirath, and Mingquan Bao. Data-transmission measurements was done by Simon He. The chip size is 1.6mm by 1.2 mm. The circuits are of interest to Ericsson for use in moving aggregated datastreams to and from basestations and cellular towers in cellular networks.
"The fact that an increasing number of people are watching films wirelessly is the primary reason underlying the need for quicker transmission today," Zirath said.
The researchers have been asked to talk about their results in breaking news session on Wednesday October 22 at the Compound Semiconductor Integrated Circuits Symposium conference in San Diego.
The next step in the research is to take the circuits form the laboratory and test them outdoors in more realistic conditions. Within a few years, the goal within the project is to demonstrate wireless data transfer of 100 Gigabit per second.
"I believe it is only a matter of a couple of years before our circuits will be used in practical applications," said Zirath.
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