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Substrate Integrated Circuits (SICs) – A Paradigm for Future GHz and THz Electronics and Photonics Systems

Ke Wu

Canada Research Chair in Radio-Frequency and Millimetre-Wave EngineeringPoly-Grames Research Center, Department of Electrical Engineering

Ecole Polytechnique (University of Montreal)

Center for Radiofrequency Electronics Research (CREER) of Quebec

City University of Hong Kong – Dec. 14, 2009

Outline of Presentation

Electronics and Photonics Electromagnetics and wireless development timelineWi ele a d adi f e e c (RF) a licatiWireless and radiofrequency (RF) applications RF/microwave and millimeter-wave engineering

Substrate Integrated Circuits (SICs) technology Emerging GHz and THz components and systems

System-on-Substrate (SoS) concept Bridge the gap between Electronics and Photonics Bridge the gap between Electronics and Photonics

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Electronics and Photonics – daily use everywhere

Electronics and Photonics From Your Car to the SpaceMicrowaves: From Your Kitchen to the Edges of the Universe

James Clerk Maxwell (1831 – 1879)

Scottish, Professor of physics, King’s College (London) and Cambridge University. Formulated the theory of electromagnetism from 1865 to 1873.

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0

tD

t

E

H J

D

B

His work established the theoretical foundation for the development of wireless communications.

"From a very long view of the history of mankind - seen from, say, ten thousand years from now - there can be little doubt that the most significant event of the 19th century will be judged as Maxwell's discovery of the laws of electrodynamics. The American Civil War will fade into provincial insignificance in comparison with this important scientific event of the same decade."

Richard Feynman, Lectures on Physics, Vol. II

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Timeline of Wireless Communications Development . . .

Courtesy of David Pozar

2000

1920

Martin Cooper, Motorola, develops first handheld cellular phone in 1973

2003 - US cellular subscribers exceed 150M

Guglielmo Marconi (1874-1937) development of wireless telegraphy trans-Atlantic 1901

Prof. H. Hertz (1857-1894) experimental validation of Maxwell 1886-1888 at Karlsruhe

1900 200018801860 198019601940

Prof. J. Maxwell (1831-1879) theory of electromagnetism developed in 1865

First television broadcast -1928

Two-way mobile radio services 1960s – 1970s

1983 - Cellular AMPS service in Chicago

KDKA Radio -1920

f = = c/E = h

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Technological and Commercial Implications

Wireless Aspects“F ” W P ti

Wireline AspectsG id d W P ti“Free”-Wave Propagation

Telegraph

Radio/Radar

Sensor/RFID

Television/Imaging

Cellular phone

Mobile device/Satcom

Guided-Wave Propagation

Waveguide

Cupper cable systems

AC power line

Telephone

Fiber optics

High frequency integrated circuitsMobile device/Satcom

Power transmission

High-frequency integrated circuits

High-speed interconnects

Wireless/Microwave Power Transmission

Outer Space to Earth

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Astronomy

Positioning Navigation

Transportation

Every Strategic Sector and Every Economic Activity(300 MHz-300GHz, now extending to 3000 GHz)

Biomedical Environment

Aeronautics

Radio-Frequency (RF)

MicrowavesTelecommunications

AgricultureAerospaceSecurity

Electronics

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Simultaneous Wireless Power Transfer and Communication(possible battery-free mobile device/cellular phone)

Socio-Technological Evolution

Man-to-Man (narrow bandwidth) Man to Man (narrow bandwidth)

Man-to-Machine (medium bandwidth)

Machine-to-Machine (broad bandwidth) Machine-to-Machine (broad bandwidth)

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Bandwidth vs. Data rate . . . (Bottom Line)

Contrary to current parlance, these are not equivalent.

Data rate (C bits/sec) for a given bandwidth (B Hz) and signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) is given by the Shannon Channel Capacity theorem:

2log 1 SC BN

Depending on the signal-to-noise ratio, S/N, we may have

C B, (“traditional” radio systems, e.g., 100 MHz 100 Mbps)

C < B, (GPS, ultra wideband radio, e.g., 5 GHz 100 Mbps)

C > B, (DBS, other high-data-rate systems, e.g., 100 MHz 400 Mbps)

Increase in Peak Rate and Spectrum EfficiencyIncrease in Peak Rate and Spectrum Efficiency

Peak rate Spectrum efficiency(bps)

Peak rate 20-MHz BW 2x2 MIMO

Spectrum efficiency (bps/Hz) for mobile communications has increased by only 5 times in the last 10 years; we need to break through this barrier!

(from Dr. Hirosaki’s 2009 RWW Keynote Presentation)

10 M

100 M

1 G(bps/Hz)

3

4

5

(bps)

HSDPA

LTE(2009)

4G(2013?)

Spectrum efficiency

2x2 MIMO OFDM

Adaptive modulation and coding (AMC) Time-domain scheduling

5-MHz BW CDMA

W-CDMA(2001)0.1 M

1 M

0

1

2

2000 2005 2010 2015

(2006)

100-MHz BW 4x4 MIMO Beam forming Inter-cell cooperation

CDMA

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Our World is Never Perfect

Broadband Scenario#1L f d l t

Broadband Scenario#2Hi h f d l tLow-frequency deployment

High-density modulation/MIMO

(Very expensive)

(High mobility)

High-frequency deployment

Low-density modulation/SISO

(Unmatured technology)

(Low mobility)

Developing novel & low-cost high-frequency (GHz and THz) technologies…

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Electromagnetic Spectrum and Atmospheric Absorption

Transmission windows

Opticalcommunications

X-rays andGamma rays

What About the Gap Between Electronics and Photonics?

? there are countless applications that could use the outstanding properties

of electromagnetic waves over the millimetre-wave and terahertz ranges !

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Millimetre-Wave and Terahertz Applications

Millimetre-wave and terahertz imaging for medical diagnostics

Material research with non-destructive and safe radiation

Security

video image (fog) 94 GHz passive millimetre-wave image

Difficult weather conditionsBroadband WLAN Astrophysics

Millimetre-Wave and Terahertz TechnologiesTechnological challenges:

- Source- Transmission- AmplificationAmplification- Radiation- Detection

Terahertz sourcesDetection

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Transmitter and Receiver

MACMAC ModemModem Front EndFront End

Transmit Transmit AntennaAntenna

Receive Receive AntennaAntenna

Evolution of Microwave/Millimetre-wave Technologies1st Generation

2nd Generation3rd Generation

4th Generation

Metal waveguide l l

MHMIC and MMIC

Multilayered LTCC/MMIC

Microwave integrated Circuits

(MICs)

and coaxial cable LTCC/MMICMEMS-RFIC

What‘s next ? ......

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Drawbacks of Current Mainstream Technologies

Microstrip Coplanar Waveguide (CPW)

EM field singularities cause high current densities in the conductor edges → high conductor/crosstalk losses

Performance Gap at mmW Frequencies

• Electrically large mmW components rely on low loss technology• Gap between lossy planar waveguides and bulky metal waveguides needs to

be closed.

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Bad Solutions Better Than No Solutions(module/system and device/circuit integration)

a) Probe Type b) Ridge Type

(a) (b) (c)

(d) (e) (f)

Synthesized Waveguides and Substrate Integrated Circuits (SICs)non-planar structure in planar form

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Substrate Integrated Circuits (SICs)

Complete integration of planar circuits (surface type) and non-planar circuits (volume type) on the same dielectric substrate and fabrication process

Synthesized waveguides made of metallic fences and/or dielectric contrasts compatible with planar substrate (electrically, mechanically, and thermally)

Potential hybrid and monolithic features such as planar Potential hybrid and monolithic features such as planar multilayer, miniaturization, self-packaging, tunability, electro-optical control and conversation

Interfacing / Transitions

wS

lS

w

ar

p

x

y

b

x

z

Courant electrique

Champ magnetique

Waveguide ↔ SIIGMicrostrip ↔ SIW

CPW ↔ SIW CPW ↔ SIIG

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K-band Receiver Filter for Satcom Applications

The measured minimum in-band insertion loss is approximately 0.63dB

The measured minimum in-band insertion loss is approximately 0.52dB

Substrate integrated Parabolic Reflector and Multibeam Antenna

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Integrated FMCW System on Substrate (SoS)

Active 60-GHz Front-End

−30

−20

−10

0

on lo

ss (

dB

)

50 55 60 65

−50

−40

Frequency (GHz)

Inse

rtio

|S21

| with LNA

|S21

| without LNA

|S21

| smoothed

Measured transmission path loss

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System-on-Substrate (SoS) ConceptsAdvanced Technological Features

Nano-structured “zero” loss and agile/tunable substrates Traveling wave electro optical devices Traveling-wave electro-optical devices Mixed integration of different waveguides on substrate High-density multilayer integration Monolithic integration of “passive” and “active” circuits on

substrate including antennas (Sub)millimeter-wave VLSI (very-large scale integration) (Sub)millimeter-wave VLSI (very-large scale integration) Terahertz electronics and photonics (Plasmon effects) Bridging the gap between electronic and photonic systems

Hybrid SIW Interconnects System(McGill University – Prof. Abhari’s Group)

SIW

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@5 Gb/s

Stripline

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CBN-based Traveling-Wave Electro-Optical Modulators(Electro-optical coefficient of CBN is 3 times more than LiNbO3)

Phase 2 Phase 3Phase 1

CPW AmplitudeModulator

SIW Amplitude Modulator

PhaseModulator

MEMS-Based SIW Walls/Grounding Pads Made of Multiple Metallic Wires(Uppsala University, Sweden)

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Substrate Integrated Folded Waveguide (SIFW)(from Dr. Paul R. Young, University of Kent, UK)

a

a/2

3 layer

a/3a/4 4 layer

Substrate Integrate Circuits (SICs)→ Combining planar and synthesized non-planar guiding structures

Example of a substrate integrated circuit

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Evolution of Microwave/Millimetre-wave Technologies1st Generation

2nd Generation3rd Generation

4th Generation

Metal waveguide l l

MHMIC and MMIC

Multilayered LTCC/MMIC

Microwave integrated Circuits

(MICs)

and coaxial cable LTCC/MMICMEMS-RFIC

What‘s next ? ...... Substrate Integrated Circuits (SICs)!

Conclusions Current and future RF/wireless systems require the use of higher

frequency spectrum and call for completely innovative technologies

Substrate integrated circuits (SICs) are proposed for low-cost/high-density

RF/millimeter-wave/terahertz and photonic wireless ICs

Hybrid design platforms are demonstrated such as planar-substrate

integrated waveguide (SIW) & planar-substrate integrated dielectric guides

Potential monolithic SICs can be anticipated with semiconductor and/or

smart substrate towards System-on-Substrate (SoS) approach for future

illi t d h t i i l li timillimeter-wave and photonic wireless applications

The technological gap between electronics and photonics can be bridged

for GHz and THz innovations and discoveries

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Thank You