A New Era of Wireless Ultra Large Scale Integration with Sub-1nm Millimeter Wave and Light Wave CMOS—Performance Advantages and Technologies

Traditionally CMOS is not a light emitting device, nor is it a microwave device. Similar to laser, LED, and microwave diodes, millimetre wave photonic CMOS is a light emitting as well as microwave generating device. The process of including MOSFET, laser, photon sensors, and microwave diodes as one integral transistor is 100% compatible with any existing CMOS process flows, and the microwave optoelectronic CMOS actually outperforms the separated, individual components, due to higher quantum efficiency, and the internal positive feedback loops.<br/><br/>The trillions of micro metal wires in an ULSI chip produce a large amount of heat and RC delays. Most of these micro metal wires must be eliminated with the millimetre wave photonic CMOS in order to achieve very high frequency for far beyond 5G RF mobile processors.<br/><br/>In order for the CMOS based circuits to communicate with microwaves and light waves instead of a large amount of long micro metal wires, it is necessary to modulate, multiplex, or polarize the microwaves and light waves generated from the CMOS. In this report we will discuss the following:<br/><br/>(1) How to design Powered Optical Waveguides: extending and using the drain region of a Photonic Microwave CMOS as part of the photonic waveguide increase the output drive current, improves CMOS switching speed and efficiency of transmitting light waves and microwaves. Layout designers need to fill the unused spaces in a circuit with Photonic Microwave CMOS drain regions. For traditional CMOS, FINFETs or All Around Gate FETs, extending the CMOS drain region does not improve CMOS speed.<br/><br/>(2) Avalanche Breakdown Microwave Photonic CMOS: ultra-low resistance IMPATT and BARITT microwave diodes in the photonic CMOS drain region generate a large amount of microwaves with the Photonic Avalanche Effects. We will illustrate how to modulate and multiplex the avalanche microwave generation with applying coordinated gate and drain RF signals.<br/><br/>(3) Tunnel Microwave Photonic CMOS: Tunnel Laser and Tunnel Microwave diodes in the CMOS drain region efficiently produce microwaves and light waves. The RF signals driving the Tunnel Diodes are different from the Avalanche Breakdown Microwave Diodes - we will illustrate how to achieve microwave and light wave communications with specially designed RF signals and antennas.<br/><br/>(4) On the receiving end, the CMOS in the destination needs to receive only the specified RF signals. The optical waveguide and microwave antennas must include the filtering design so only specially processed light waves and microwaves may arrive and enter the CMOS circuit in the specified destination.<br/><br/>(5) Optoelectronic Millimeter wave CMOS with GaAs, InP, SiGe (microwave), GaN for Tunnel, IMPATT, BARITT microwave and light wave generations will be discussed.