Spam ? - UF develops 100 GHz CMOS technology

[Frank Gentges]

The University of Florida announced that they have fabricated a 105 GHz 
device using CMOS technology.  This could open up wireless applications 
where a whole lot of users could each have a lot of bandwidth while 
everyone is on a different frequency.  This could simplify network 
control protocols.

In addition, as the frequency goes up, smaller antennas can have higher 
gain and narrower beam widths compared with today's wireless systems.

It is not clear what show stoppers might stand in the way of this 
technology but the prospect of being able to fabricate these devices 
with a variant of today's semiconductor technology is exciting.  Up to 
now, the submicron feature size used to fabricate microprocessors has 
not been applied to RF circuits.  This might be a marriage made in heaven.

See http://www.napa.ufl.edu/2005news/superchip.htm for more information 
on their work.

Frank K0BRA