Millimeter wave complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor on-chip hexagonal ferrite circulator

Abstract

Hexagonal ferrites, such as BaFe12O19 and SrFe12O19, have strong uniaxial anisotropic magnetic field and remanent magnetism. By employing these properties, magnetic devices, such as phase shifter, isolator and circulator, can work up to tens of GHz frequency range without strong external magnetic field or even self-biasing. As the monolithic microwave integrated circuit extends to higher millimeter wave frequencies, the demand for high performance integrated passive magnetic components is more and more eminent. The micro- and nano-sized hexagonal ferrite can be conveniently utilized to fabricate magnetic components integrated in CMOS circuits via post processing. A nano-ferrite circulator working at 60 GHz is designed, fabricated, and integrated into the CMOS front end for the first time.