Low-Noise Frequency Synthesizer for a Sub-mm-Wave Carbonyl Sulphide Molecule Clock
Terahertz (THz) arrays promise high-resolution and nonionizing solutions for a broad range of imaging problems in the medical industrial quality control and security domains. The application of THz imagers has previously been hindered by a lack of convenient THz sources at the transmitter side and limitations on the resolution obtainable by incoherent imaging at the receiver side. This project concerns both problems. The project will involve building the test board for a SiGe THz heterodyne imaging array with on-chip phase-locked loop. The test board will perform beam steering and data sampling functions. The project will also involve developing digital signal processing routines for coherent reconstruction of 2D images and full-wave analysis of 3-D structures.

I am very grateful for the opportunity to take on this SuperUROP project as part of the Terahertz Integrated Electronics Group which aims to close the THz Gap through the favorable economics of silicon. As an intern at a microwave design house last summer I worked with mm-Wave components based on GaAs. I am excited to explore the high-frequency frontier and hope to grow my skills for a future RFIC/MMIC designer role.