Low Power GaAs Digital and Analog Functionalities for Microwave Signal Conditioning in AESA Systems

A MMIC demonstrator for RF phase and amplitude control with on board 18-bit serial to parallel conversion (Multi-Functional Chip) is presented. Thanks to an alternative digital building block topology, the DC power consumption of the digital serial to parallel converter is noteworthy: less than 43 mW (2 mW/bit). The main RF performances are 0° – 360° phase coverage and 0 dB – 31.5 dB attenuation setting, in the 7.6 GHz – 9.1 GHz operating bandwidth. The circuit, whose area is 6 mm2, is realised in an industrial and commercially available GaAs technology. This component can be used in active electronically scanned arrays for beam steering.