Japanese semiconductor outfit Rohm has built a chip and antenna that can transmitting 1.5Gbps and should be able to manage 30Gbps soon. The fastest 802.11 (WiFi) transmission speeds can only manage a limp 150Mbps, and the incoming WiGig standard peaks at 7Gbps.

What the boffins think is significant is that the Rohm has managed to set up the reception and transmission of terahertz waves (300GHz to 3THz) using a chip and antenna that’s just two centimeters long. It will only cost $5 to make when it comes market in a few years. Current terahertz-level gear is large, expensive, and only capable of data rates of 100Mbps.

Sadly it is not going to replace standard 2 and 5Ghz home networks, since it is such a high frequency it has to be directional to within a millimetre. Terahertz signals also fall prey to atmospheric radiation.

More here.