Terahertz Integrated Circuit Design and Applications
Summary
Terahertz integrated circuit design lies at the interface of semiconductor technology, electromagnetic theory and system engineering. Operating in the 0.1–10 THz band, these circuits exploit advanced device technologies such as silicon–germanium BiCMOS and CMOS to realise amplifiers, mixers, oscillators and antennas on a single chip. Key challenges include achieving sufficient gain and low noise at these high frequencies, managing substrate losses in on-chip antennas and ensuring accurate beam steering or signal integrity in transceiver chains. Recent advances have featured novel antenna topologies, refined equivalent‐circuit models for rapid design iterations and fully integrated imaging arrays. Applications span high-speed wireless links, non-invasive medical diagnostics, gas spectroscopy for environmental monitoring and precision localisation for industrial automation. By merging circuit-level innovation with system-level integration, terahertz ICs promise compact, low-cost solutions that will underpin next-generation communication, sensing and imaging platforms.
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Terahertz Integrated Circuit Design and Applications publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in terahertz integrated circuit design and applications across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Terahertz band: Electromagnetic frequencies from 0.1 to 10 THz, bridging microwave and infrared regions.
On-chip antenna: Antenna element fabricated within the same substrate and process flow as the active circuits, enabling monolithic integration.
Leaky-wave antenna: Guided-wave structure that radiates energy continuously along its length to form a directional, frequency-scanned beam.
Equivalent circuit model: Simplified representation of an antenna or circuit using lumped reactive and resistive elements to predict performance.
SiGe BiCMOS: Semiconductor technology combining silicon–germanium heterojunction bipolar transistors with CMOS to support high-frequency operation.
References
- THz Prism: One-Shot Simultaneous Localization of Multiple Wireless Nodes With Leaky-Wave THz Antennas and Transceivers in CMOS. IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits (2021).
- Equivalent Circuit Model Separating Dissipative and Radiative Losses for the Systematic Design of Efficient Microstrip-Based On-Chip Antennas. IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques (2020).
- Perspective on active submillimeter electromagnetic wave imaging using CMOS integrated circuits technologies. Journal of Applied Physics (2023).
- Transmitters and receivers in SiGe BiCMOS technology for sensitive gas spectroscopy at 222 - 270 GHz. AIP Advances (2019).
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