Monolithic Microwave IC Technologies and System Applications

Recent progress of GaAs Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuit (MMIC) and Gb/s logic has established a solid foundation for many future system applications. Systems benefiting from these advances include phased/adaptive arrays, MILSATCOM, Television Receive-Only (TVRO) receiver, Electronic Warfare (EW), instrumentation and radar. This paper presents various MMIC technologies and tradeoffs of materials (crystal growths, orientations, material properties, characterization techniques, etc.), processes (ion-implantation, Molecular Beam Epitaxy, Vapor Phase Epitaxy, Liquid Phase Epitaxy), and circuit fabrication via hole, air bridge, active matching, etc. The performance of the presently achieved SHF/EHF MMIC's are summarized. Technical problems, possible solutions, and future trends of MMIC design and fabrication (impedance matching methods, bias, low noise techniques, medium power IC's, EHF circuits, filters, isolators, packaging techniques, etc.) are also described.