EECS Seminar: Chip-scale Terahertz Systems and Applications

Abstract: Terahertz (THz) electronics is attracting increasing attention due to the recent “beyond-5G” research. On the other hand, it may surprise many that devices for THz wave generation and detection have in fact been reported as early as one century ago, and even the CMOS-based low-cost THz circuits have been around for 15 years. Despite those advances, exploration of unique and practical applications of the THz technology, especially the applications for THz chip-scale systems, is still insufficient. In this talk, we will introduce our recent research outcomes in this area. Prototypes to be showcased include gas molecular spectrometer with high specificity, chip-scale molecular clock, high-angular-resolution radar, lightweight wireline chip link, mm-sized packageless RFID, cryogenic low-power interconnects and so on.

Bio: Ruonan Han received his bachelor's degree from Fudan University in 2007 and doctorate from Cornell University in 2014. He is now at MIT and is an associate professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and the director of the Center of Integrated Circuits and Systems. His research group focuses on RF-to-photonics integrated systems for spectroscopy, metrology, imaging, quantum sensing/ processing, broadband/secure communication, etc. He serves on the Technical Program Committee of IEEE ISSCC conference and RFIC symposium. He and his students have won three best student paper awards (2012, 2017 and 2021) in the RFIC symposium. He is the IEEE MTT-S Distinguished Microwave Lecturer in 2020-2022, and the winner of the Intel Outstanding Researcher Award in 2019, the National Science Foundation CAREER Award in 2017, and the IEEE Solid-State Circuits Society New Frontier Award in 2023.