TI builds upon leadership in millimeter wave circuits for short-range sensors

USA: Texas Instruments Inc. (TI) will demonstrate an industry first in millimeter wave circuits with a paper on a 160GHz center-frequency-pulsed transmitter for short-range sensor applications.

The transmitter features a higher effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP) at sub-THz frequencies than previous sub-THz transmitters with planar antennas.

"TI innovations in millimeter wave circuits shape future sensing applications for ubiquitous electronics and address a broad range of new markets.  You can see the impact in everything from medical and security imaging to automotive safety and industrial sensors," said Brian Ginsburg, a design engineer at TI and one of the authors of the paper.  "A first and major milestone for the electronics industry, our paper demonstrates the highest EIRP from a planar silicon radiator at any frequency above 120GHz."

TI's research team used an antenna-in-package approach to obtain significantly better radiation efficiency and state-of-the-art EIRP in 65nm CMOS.  The project originated in Kilby Labs, TI's innovation center that focuses on delivering breakthrough technology.

VLSI also features TI papers highlighting research achievements in areas of power and energy efficiency, including several that demonstrate new ultra-low power applications of TI's MCU and RF solutions.  There will also be a TI paper on a stackable, six-cell, Li-Ion battery management IC that addresses battery monitoring system issues in electric vehicles.