Design and Modeling of a Terahertz Transceiver for Intra- and Inter-chip Communications in Wireless Network-on-Chip Architectures

Date
2024-05-18
Authors
Paudel, Biswash
Li, Xue Jun
Seet, Boon-Chong
Supervisor
Item type
Journal Article
Degree name
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
MDPI AG
Abstract

This paper addresses the increasing demand for computing power and the challenges associated with adding more core units to a computer processor. It explores the utilization of System-on-Chip (SoC) technology, which integrates Terahertz (THz) wave communication capabilities for intra- and inter-chip communication, using the concept of Wireless Network-on-Chips (WNoCs). Various types of network topologies are discussed, along with the disadvantages of wired networks. We explore the idea of applying wireless connections among cores and across the chip. Additionally, we describe the WNoC architecture, the flip-chip package, and the THz antenna. Electromagnetic fields are analyzed using a full-wave simulation software, Ansys High Frequency Structure Simulator (HFSS). The simulation is conducted with dipole and zigzag antennas communicating within the chip at resonant frequencies of 446 GHz and 462.5 GHz, with transmission coefficients of around -28 dB and -33 to -41 dB, respectively. Transmission coefficient characterization, path loss analysis, a study of electric field distribution, and a basic link budget for transmission are provided. Furthermore, the feasibility of calculated transmission power is validated in cases of high insertion loss, ensuring that the achieved energy expenditure is less than 1 pJ/bit. Finally, employing a similar setup, we study intra-chip communication using the same antennas. Simulation results indicate that the zigzag antenna exhibits a higher electric field magnitude compared with the dipole antenna across the simulated chip structure. We conclude that transmission occurs through reflection from the ground plane of a printed circuit board (PCB), as evidenced by the electric field distribution.

Description
Keywords
intra- and inter-chip communication , on-chip antenna , system-on-chip , terahertz technology , wireless network on chips , intra- and inter-chip communication , on-chip antenna , system-on-chip , terahertz technology , wireless network on chips , 40 Engineering , 46 Information and Computing Sciences , 4006 Communications Engineering , 4008 Electrical Engineering , 4009 Electronics, Sensors and Digital Hardware , 7 Affordable and Clean Energy , 0301 Analytical Chemistry , 0502 Environmental Science and Management , 0602 Ecology , 0805 Distributed Computing , 0906 Electrical and Electronic Engineering , Analytical Chemistry , 3103 Ecology , 4008 Electrical engineering , 4009 Electronics, sensors and digital hardware , 4104 Environmental management , 4606 Distributed computing and systems software
Source
Sensors (Basel), ISSN: 1424-8220 (Print); 1424-8220 (Online), MDPI AG, 24(10), 3220-. doi: 10.3390/s24103220
Rights statement
© 2024 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).