A D-Band OOK Transmitter With 50-GHz Bandwidth Achieving 32-Gbps Data Rate in 28-nm CMOS

A broadband high-data-rate D-band OOK transmitter (TX) is designed in this article for high-speed communication. The TX consists of an adjustable signal source, a broadband high-speed OOK modulator, and a wideband low-noise power amplifier (LNPA). The proposed LNPA can be utilized simultaneously in both the TX and the receiver to improve the RF bandwidth of the system, thus increasing the data transmission rate. Additionally, a dual-mode balun was utilized, which is compatible with single-ended and differential interfaces. The TX was fabricated in a 28-nm bulk CMOS process and achieved more than 5-dBm output power under 1-V supply voltage with 167-mW dc power consumption. For testing purposes, the TX is connected to a receiver via wire bonding, achieving a data rate of 32 Gbps in the OOK modulation scheme. Moreover, a wideband antenna was designed and implemented on printed circuit board (PCB) for the over-the-air (OTA) transmission, supporting data rates of 20 Gbps at a distance of 6 cm. To the best of our knowledge, this work demonstrates the widest RF bandwidth and the highest data rate in TXs without predistortion and equalization, which can provide excellent performance for D-band high-speed communication.