Extremely High Temperature Millimeter-Wave Ceramic Fiber Communications

This work presents an extremely high-temperature ceramic fiber communication operating at 60 GHz. Ceramic materials exhibit a melting temperature above 2000°C, much higher than metals and polymer materials such as Teflon, polyethylene, and polystyrene. In addition, unlike metals, ceramics can act as an excellent thermal insulator and protect interconnected electronic systems from extreme heat. We implemented a 60-GHz CMOS transmitter (Tx) and receiver (Rx) and connected the Tx/Rx using Alumina fiber to demonstrate extreme temperature interconnect solutions. As a proof of concept, we placed the fiber within a propane-generated fire and achieved a 5-Gb/s data rate while consuming 56 mW of power under a 1-V supply.