Georgios C. Dogiamis

A low-power FSK/spatial modulation transmitter for mm-wave wireless links

Energy-efficient, multi-Gb/s wireless links are of interest for short-range board-to-board links within server chassis/enclosed server platforms. In this paper, we propose to leverage the small physical size/large available bandwidth of mm-wave systems to demonstrate combined frequency and spatial modulation in a mm-wave TX, targeting links operating in slow-varying channels. A pulsed mm-wave digitally-controlled oscillator (DCO) provides low-power FSK capability, while variable pulse trigger delay achieves controlled relative phase between TX elements for low-power space-shift keying (SSK). A two-element 65-nm CMOS TX prototype is packaged with PCB antennas to demonstrate a 2-FSK/4-SSK 3-Gb/s TX up to 60-cm with 21.4 mW power consumption, achieving ∼7.1 pJ/bit.

A Novel Technology for Creating Sensors and Actuators in Processor Packages

In this paper, a novel technology is presented in which organic substrate manufacturing is used to create sensors and actuators directly in the CPU package. The dielectric material surrounding some interconnect traces in the substrate is removed, allowing those traces to act as sensors and actuators, while the CPU itself is used for signal processing and conditioning. To demonstrate proof of concept, ultra-thin resonant accelerometers based on this approach are designed, manufactured, and successfully tested by using them to measure orientation changes. The approach realizes smart, compact package substrates with integrated sensing and actuation functionalities, thereby enabling a wide range of applications not previously feasible in CPU packages.