On-Chip Terahertz Surface-Wave Transmission Line Based on Folded Strips

Free-space EM-wave based GHz interconnect has significant loss and crosstalk that cannot be deployed as low-power and dense I/Os for future network-on-chip integration of manycore and memory. This paper proposes a novel sub-THz (0.1T-lT) surface-wave transmission line (T-line) with folded strip for strong field localization in CMOS technology. By introducing subwavelength periodical folded strip onto the conventional transmission line, the proposed structure demonstrates a greater bending dispersion relation up to THz, implying stronger electrical field ( $E$ -field) enhancement into the metal/dielectric interfaces. Moreover, this highly compact structure has capability to achieve both impedance and momentum conversion at the injection interface. This work potentially paves the way for integrating 2-D surface-wave T-line with CMOS building blocks.