IHP's Circuit Design department conducts research and development for silicon-based broadband and high-frequency circuits up to 500 GHz.
The Circuit Design department develops and realizes integrated microwave and millimeter-wave circuits, broadband mixed-signal circuits and circuits with high energy efficiency for communication and sensor applications.
The focus is on millimeter-wave circuits, transmit and receive circuits and frequence-synthesizer for systems with working frequencies up to 720 GHz which are designed and manufactured in IHP's current own SiGe-BiCMOS process.
The development of broadband mixed-signal circuits concentrates on applications in fiberglass-supported and wireless broadband communication. Here, new concepts and electronic circuits for highest datarates and thus extremely large signal band width are developed.
Energy-efficient HF transmit and receive circuits are developed for their use in mobile electronic applications with battery operation. Typical application fields are communication, localization and sensor technologies. These circuits are supplemented by an intelligent, system-specific power management.
A future field of activity for the department is the development of integrated circuits for ultra-fast analog-digital and digital-analog converters with sampling rates in the GHz range. The addressed applications are in the direct synthesis of high frequency signals or in the digital signal processing of such HF signals. Research and realization of HF circuits which correspond to the state-of-the-art require a constant development of design methods and design tools. A focus is on, for example, the development of radiation-hard circuits for aerospace.
Technical Competencies
- transceiver circuits with operational frequencies up to 540 GHz
- frequency synthesizer showing very low phase noise
- wireless communication circuits with extremely high data rates (100 GBit/s and above)
- fiber-optical communication circuits
- millimeter-wave radar with high resolution für 2D- & 3D applications
- Sub-THz gas spectroscopy circuits
- millimeter-wave sensors for bio- and medical applications
- UWB RFICs for indoor localization & navigation as well as communication
- radiation tolerant circuits for space applications
- ultra-fast A/D- & D/A-converters
- energy-efficient RF-circuits for wireless sensor networks
Technical Basis
The following measurement setups are being used:
- measurement setup for radio frequency (RF) and millimeter wave (mmW) transceiver circuits
- fine placer for rework and flip-chip applications
- wafer probe station
- measurement setup for ultra-wideband (UWB) transceiver circuits
