Seven years ago research in the ?eld of mm-wave silicon was virtually
non-existent.
Fewpeoplethoughtthatoperationat60GHzwasevenfeasibleinsilicontechnology.
Inthecourseofsevenyearsthe
topichastransitionedfromanobscureresearchtopic to an exciting buzzword
(60GHz) that has generated much interest from industry and the venture
community.To put things in historical perspective, seven years ago most
commercial efforts were focused on the 1-10 GHz spectrum for voice and
data applications for mobile phones and portable computers. Many people
were actively seeking solutions to the "last mile" problem, or a way to
deliver high speed data to users in their homes and of?ces throughcable,
telephone, or wireless infrastructure. At the same time, the explosive
growth of wireless data such as WiFi spurred s- ni?cant research into
and development of new architectures for radio transceivers that could
deliver very high data rates over short ranges, particularly for video
and personal area networks. This problem can be viewed as the "last
meter" or even the "last inch" connection that delivers high bandwidth
multimedia content to devices. The growth of MP3 media devices, and now
handheld video devices, and the rapid adoptionofHDTV and ?at
screentelevisions hascreateda healthydemandforte- nology that enables
high speed wireless video transmission. For this reason, today we
witness a very active interest in mm-wave silicon technology. Other
important commercial applications include automotive radar for safety
and improved driving experience. But these applications are only the tip
of the iceberg.
