A low-overhead self-healing embedded system for ensuring high yield and long-term sustainability of 60GHz 4Gb/s radio-on-a-chip

Abstract

The available ISM band from 57-65GHz has become attractive for high-speed wireless applications including mass data transfer, streaming high-definition video and even biomedical applications. While silicon based data transceivers at mm-wave frequencies have become increasingly mature in recent years [1,2,3], the primary focus of the circuit community remains on the design of mm-wave front-ends to achieve higher data rates through higher-order modulation and beamforming techniques. However, the sustainability of such mm-wave systems when integrated in a SoC has not been addressed in the context of die performance yield and device aging. This problem is especially challenging for the implementation of mm-wave SoC's in deep sub-micron technology due to its process & operating temperature variations and limited ft / fmax with respect to the operation frequency. © 2012 IEEE.