Terahertz frequency synthesis in CMOS for a chip-scale molecular clock
Name
1128023849-MIT.pdf
Size
15.67 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
579a8daa0fe8f3be50e21ca6d738e7eb
Author(s)
Mawdsley, James P.
Advisor(s)
Ruonan Han.
Alternative Title
THz frequency synthesis in complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor for a chip-scale molecular clock
Date Issued
2019
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
Clocks are fundamental to modern communications, navigation, and sensing systems. A recently invented chip-scale molecular clock (CSMC) based on terahertz electronics could enable low-cost, atomic-grade timekeeping for applications that are poorly served by existing clock technologies. However, the first CSMC left opportunities to optimize the terahertz electronics for a second version, for instance by improving transmitter phase noise. In this thesis, I designed millimeter-wave and terahertz circuits in CMOS for a new CSMC. A 60GHz VCO, frequency multiplier chain, and terahertz detector were designed for the high-frequency front-end of a 231GHz transceiver. This involved iterative circuit and electromagnetic optimization from schematic to layout. The circuits were integrated with other high-speed and baseband circuits on a single chip in order to synthesize a stable clock signal by locking to the 231.061GHz rotational transition line of carbonyl sulfide (16O 12C 32S) gas. The chip was taped-out in a TSMC 65nm CMOS process and measured. The results offer insights for future work on molecular clocks and terahertz electronics.
Description
This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.
Thesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2019
Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 111-118).
Subjects
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
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