Agilent Technologies and the University of Texas at Dallas Collaborate on Millimeter and Sub-Millimeter Wave Characterization Facility in Texas Analog Center of Excellence

An emerging technology, millimeter-wave semiconductors offer applications in potentially everything from scanning people for weapons and monitoring air quality to enabling aircraft to operate more safely in dense fog and other poor weather conditions.

The first phase of the new facility will involve network and spectrum analyses, as well as two-tone linearity and noise measurement capabilities up to 325 GHz. The facility will initially support research to make 77 to 81 GHz short-range radar integrated circuits affordable and study the feasibility for 180 to 300 GHz spectrometry in complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology for security and health care applications.

CMOS is the integrated-circuit technology used to manufacture low-cost, high-volume semiconductors, including microprocessors, memory circuits and cell phone chips. In the subsequent phases, Agilent Technologies and UT Dallas/TxACE are committed to expand the test capability into the 500-GHz region and above as applications for high-frequency analog circuits demand a shared high- performance testing facility.

One of TxACE's key goals is to help enable the emergence of silicon millimeter-wave and sub-millimeter-wave integrated circuits for the industry, said Ken O, director of TxACE and holder of the Texas Instruments Distinguished Chair at UT Dallas. With a facility of this type in a university environment, critical barriers will be removed for research in this challenging measurement area.

We are delighted to help establish the facility at TxACE for research in millimeter and THz analog circuit design, said Bill Wallace, Americas region director of university development, Agilent. The research conducted by some of the most distinguished faculty in their field should lead to new disruptive technologies and positively impact our industry.