100-Pixel CMOS Camera for 2.8 THz Waves

Abstract

This thesis presents the digital control and pixel readout circuitry for a 100 pixel 2.8THz wave camera. Together with companion theses by Anna Broome and TJ Smith the full layout of a 65nm TSMC CMOS chip is presented. An array of patch antennas picks up THz waves which are then converted to DC signals by a detector and amplified by an in-pixel LNA before being multiplexed to a final amplifier and read off-chip. An on-chip 8-bit counter is controlled by an FPGA on an external board and allows the array to work as a camera or as a video-rate device at a software-defined frame rate. Each feature of the design is carefully simulated, analyzed, and evaluated to minimize the possibility of failure in the fabricated chip.