Silicon photonics-wireless interface ICs for micro-/millimeter-wave fiber-wireless networks.

Area of Science:

• Photonics and Wireless Communication
• Integrated Circuit Design
• Semiconductor Technology

Background:

• Fiber-wireless networks require efficient interfaces to convert optical signals to radio-frequency (RF) signals.
• Silicon photonics offers a promising platform for integrated optical and RF components.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design and fabricate two types of silicon photonics-wireless interface (PWI) integrated circuits (ICs).
• To enable downlink signal conversion for remote antenna units in fiber-wireless systems.
• To characterize and model silicon avalanche photodetectors (APDs) for PWI IC design.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of PWI ICs using standard silicon (Si) technologies, specifically 0.18-μm CMOS and 0.25-μm SiGe BiCMOS.
• Characterization and modeling of Si avalanche photodetectors (APDs).
• Integration of APDs with preamplifiers, power amplifiers (PAs), and baseband photoreceivers.

Main Results:

• A 5-GHz RF-over-fiber PWI IC was fabricated in 0.18-μm CMOS, demonstrating 54-Mb/s wireless local area network data transmission.
• A 60-GHz baseband-over-fiber PWI IC was realized in 0.25-μm SiGe BiCMOS, achieving error-free transmission of 1.6-Gb/s 60-GHz binary phase-shift keying (BPSK) data.

Conclusions:

• Standard silicon technologies can be effectively utilized for developing high-performance PWI ICs.
• The developed PWI ICs support high-speed data transmission for advanced fiber-wireless communication systems.
• The PWI ICs demonstrate the feasibility of integrating optical and RF functionalities on a single chip for next-generation wireless networks.