[Mich VHF UHF Society] 1.03 THz MMIC sets a world record

[Roger Cox]

Guinness World Records has recognized *DARPA*’s Terahertz
Electronics program for creating the fastest solid-state amplifier
integrated circuit ever measured. The 10-stage common-source MMIC achieves
9 dB gain at 1.03 THz. Noise figure and output power have not yet been
measured.

The MMIC was designed and fabricated by Northrop Grumman Corp. using 25 nm
InP HEMTs as the active devices. Researchers used E-beam lithography to
define the gates on the MMIC, which was 18 µm thick and no bigger than a
grain of kosher salt, according to Bill Deal, manager of the Terahertz
Electronics program at Northrop Grumman.

The previous high frequency record for a solid-state amplifier was 850 GHz,
set in 2012 by Northrop Grumman, on the same DARPA program.

The objective of the Terahertz Electronics program is to develop the device
and integration technologies to realize compact, high-performance
transceivers that operate above a THz. The program is funding the
development of InP HBT and HEMT transistor technologies as well as low-loss
interconnects to integrate multiple MMICs into compact transmitter and
receiver modules.

“Terahertz circuits promise to open up new areas of research and unforeseen
applications in the sub-millimeter-wave spectrum, in addition to bringing
unprecedented performance to circuits operating at more conventional
frequencies,” said Dev Palmer, DARPA program manager. “This breakthrough
could lead to revolutionary technologies such as high-resolution security
imaging systems, improved collision-avoidance radar, communications
networks with many times the capacity of current systems and spectrometers
that could detect potentially dangerous chemicals and explosives with much
greater sensitivity.”
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