80 GHz on-chip metamaterial resonator by differential transmission line loaded with split ring resonator

Abstract

An on-chip metamaterial resonator is demonstrated in 65 nm CMOS at 80 GHz for millimetre-wave integrated circuit (MMIC) applications. The resonator is based on a differential metamaterial transmission-line (T-line) loaded with a split ring resonator (SRR), which can enhance the EM energy coupling and further improve the quality factor (Q). Measurement results indicate that the proposed differential SRR (DSRR) T-line shows a sharp stopband with maximum 35 dB rejection. Moreover, the metamaterial property of the DSRR T-line is validated from the measurement results. It is the first on-chip demonstration of a millimetre-wave metamaterial resonator in 65 nm CMOS, which can be integrated for a low-noise oscillator and high-Q filter design in a 100 GHz MMIC communication system.