A 90-GHz receiver in 40-nm CMOS for plastic waveguide links

Abstract

Plastic waveguide links are proposed as a cost-friendly, light-weight and EMI-robust alternative for copper and optical interconnects for Gbps data transfer up to 10 m. Measured properties of the rectangular polypropylene waveguide such as dielectric loss and bending loss are reported. The design and measurements of a 90-GHz injection-locked ASK receiver in 40-nm CMOS are presented. The link is demonstrated with the receiver chip and a plastic waveguide with lengths up to 9 m. The highest achieved bit rate is 9 Gbps for a distance of 60 cm and 2.5 Gbps for a distance of 9 m with a $$\text {BER} < 10^{-12}$$ . With a power consumption of 50 mW from a 0.9 V supply, the best FOM is 2.2 pJ/bit/m.