JOSEPH L.

ABITA

MICROWAVE/MILLIMETER WAVE
TECHNOLOGY

In the course of technology evolution, a "quantum leap" may occur during a period of characteristic
S-curve growth. The sudden advance can be brought about by a single discovery or by a combination
of several factors. Microwave systems and technology have been experiencing such a period of rapid
growth, promising a similar trend for high-frequency and high-speed systems. This article presents factors
contributing to that surge, and an overview of microwave electronics activities at APL.

INTRODUCTION
Microwave-electronic science and technology have vanced systems for radar; communications; navigation;
been a part of the work of APL for many years (Fig. 1). command, communications, and control; geodesy; and
In 1940, APL was founded to develop radio proximity tracking-all of which are based on radio-wave genera-
fuzes at the time of the earliest beginnings of radar. tion and processing systems. Major innovations came
Knowledge gained in the development of radar fuses led about as a result of in-house microwave capability. 1
to advances in guided-missile defense using the Navy Over the past several decades, APL has continued its
shipborne surface-to-air missiles-Terrier, Tartar, and work in microwave technology, trying to keep up with
Talos. APL continued work on the development of ad- the rapid pace of development by major systems houses,

Communications,
2000 Smart command, and
weapons control Radar Science

MORAR
SATRACK TOPEX
GPSPAC-GPS/SMILS HUT
Exdrone Nova AMPTE
HILAT
SDI
SAR Solar Polar
1980 Trident
Navy Standard
Missile OTH/DC&T MAGSAT
SEASAT
Tomahawk
Co
Q)

Figure 1-A historical overview of >- Harpoon SYS-1

microwave systems work at APL.
Aegis
Transit
1960 Fleet Ballistic Missile System (Polaris)
Talos
Tartar
Terrier

Radio proximity
fuse

1~ ~--------------------------------------------------
Historical perspective: APL microwave systems environment

200 Johns Hopkins APL Technical Digest, Volume 9, Number 3 (1988)

and meeting the funding requirements for facilities and Table 1-Major Navy systems developments plan to
equipment. Microwave technology is essential in the incorporate MIMIC technology . The trend is toward
millimeter·wave operation to meet the performance
long-range evolution of Navy systems, and the support
demands of an electromagnetically hostile environment.
of those systems is the primary mission of APL.
Communications
NAVY SYSTEMS AND MICROWAVE
TECHNOLOGY Mark XV • MILSTAR • GPS • JTIDS • ICNIA
The Department of Defense has instituted a tri-service Antijam Data Links. Tactical Radio· MMW
effort in microwave electronics in order to maintain tech- Spacelinks
nological superiority to aid in the defense of the United
States. The total investment by the Department of De- Radar
fense, industry, and the academic community over the
next five years is in the billions of dollars. The micro- SBR • ATA • ASAP • Airborne Multimode
wave/millimeter-wave monolithic-integrated-circuit ini- Phased Array • Shared Aperture
tiative (MIMIC) complements the very-high-speed inte-
grated-circuit (VHSIC) digital program of the past seven Autonomous/Smart Weapons
years. Although there are many parallels between those
programs, there are several important differences. The AMRAAM • OABM • HARM • EX60 • INEWS
VHSIC program strongly emphasized technology devel- Low Cost Seeker • Standard Missile
opment, it was conducted by several major systems
houses, and it depended on the "obvious benefits of the Electronic Warfare
technology" to encourage enthusiastic embrace by the
military services for technology transfer and insertion. ALR-77 • APR-39 • ASAP • ALQ-136, -165 , -126
In comparison, the MIMIC program emphasizes systems INEWS. RWR. ADVCAP. GEN-X. NVLKA
usage to improve technology and insists on team arrange- AAED • ASP J • Expendable Decoys
ments of participants from systems houses (prime con-
tractors), commercial technology support ventures (found-

?;~
ries, computer-aided-design companies, component/pack- Satellite
age suppliers, etc.), and universities, and is promoting
education and awareness of tri-service program manage-
ment to encourage technology transfer and insertion.
Microwave systems can be categorized in the areas of
radar, communications, command, control, and elec-
tronic warfare. Phase 1 of the MIMIC program proposes ~

L
advanced microwave technology for over 50 major sys-
L patrol plane
tems: " .. . it has become increasingly evident to program relay
managers in the Department of Defense that the micro-
-I\A- -- " - - ~~- -
wave and millimeter wave circuits needed for use in the
'front end' of many military electronic systems are often - Sonobu~y array ~
unavailable. In some cases, the required component sim-
ply does not exist as a manufacturable product. In other Active sonar
cases, the cost of the product is unacceptably high for
the intended application. Consequently, both the per-
formance and cost of a weapons system are adversely
affected." 2

~:-~-. -. . .-
Specific Navy systems (areas) targeted for MIMIC
technology insertion are listed in Table 1. APL will par-
ticipate in the future development of microwave tech- ~ ~~~::~~i~~ station
nology because of its mission and goals.

A NEW ERA
For over 40 years microwave engineering develop- ment methods; and equipment, materials, and processes.
ments have resulted in g!"owth of the market, the tech- Currently, the pace of microwave electronics advance-
nology, and the microwave community. Over the past ment is being accelerated because of problems such as
several years, major advancement and expansion has tak- limited frequency-allocation opportunities; major initia-
en place because of an ability to deal with the complexity tives such as the Strategic Defense Initiative, MIMIC,
of microwave circuit analysis, to accurately characterize Global Positioning System, and the Military Strategic/
components, and to package and integrate systems. This Tactical and Relay system have had a similar effect. Per-
is because of the rapid growth in the use of computer- formance and physical demands of modern commercial
aided design, engineering, and testing; test and measure- and military systems, coupled with the high levels of inte-

Johns Hopkin s APL Technical Digest, Volume 9, Number 3 (1988) 201

Abita - Micro wave/ Millimeter Wa ve Technology

gration and the fusion of different technologies, offer and market factors made the economics unattractive.
exciting challenges to the microwave engineering com- The lost opportunity threatened the survival of technol-
munity. ogy expected from emerging commercial microwave ven-
As an example, Fig. 2 shows a completely solid-state tures.
transmit/receive module for a phased-array radar devel- In spite of less-than-encouraging predictions, it ap-
oped by ITT Defense Technology Corporation. 3 The pears that the microwave field will still have vast com-
module provides 30-dB gain at 20070 efficiency, operating mercial opportunities. Collision-avoidance systems for
at 12-W peak output power at 5 to 6 GHz. It contains automobiles 5 and aircraft have been realized; those mi-
a six-bit programmable phase shifter and transmitter/re- crowave (or millimeter-wave) systems are highly integrat-
ceiver switch; a power amplifier and two drivers; and ed with real-time decision-making and reaction using dig-
a low-noise preamplifier with transmit/ receive switch. ital processing and robotic control. In the area of air-
This development unit measures 3.8 x 2.5 x 12.7 cm traffic control and environmental monitoring (to detect
and weighs 170 g; future versions are expected to be half wind shear, for example), one article 6 points out that
that size and weight. "The nation's air traffic control and navigation system
Texas Instruments has developed a one-chip monolith- is about to undergo extensive modernization ... $15 bil-
ic transmit/receiver module at X band. 4 Operating at lion by the end of the century ... " The modernization
8 to 12 GHz, the single-chip 13 x 4.5-mm integrated- will include Mode S beacon and transponder air-to-air
circuit module consists of a 4-bit phase shifter, a 4-stage and air-to-ground communication and data links, the mi-
power amplifier, a 3-stage low-noise amplifier, and two crowave landing systems, collision-avoidance systems,
transmit/receive switches. The module provides 500-mW and ground-station upgrades. There are also very-small-
output with 26-dB gain and 12.5% efficiency in transmit, aperture terminals, remotely piloted vehicles, and map-
and 18-dB gain with a 5.5-dB noise figure in the receive ping and locating pathfinders, to name several more
mode. commercial ventures. To be incorporated in such appli-
Figure 3 shows a MIMIC component, the HMM cations, cost, size, weight, and reliability must meet con-
11810. The HMM 11810 is a commercial product (Harris sumer product demands.
Semiconductor) used in wideband applications. It pro- It is difficult to measure and define the extent of
vides 5-dB gain over the 6- to 18-GHz band with ±0.75- worldwide microwave activity. The trend is reflected in
dB flatness, 50-mW output power, and a 6.5-dB noise recent statistics 7 that forecast growth in MIMIC from
figure. This is only one example of a large number of $25 .2 million in 1986 to $2.29 billion in 1997, a 1OO-fold
MIMIC products that are readily available for systems increase. Major conferences in that field have grown
engineering. from several hundred participants a decade ago to several
The major end user of microwave components has thousand attendees now. Another indicator of that trend
been, and will continue to be, the military. Large-volume is the fact that The Johns Hopkins University Whiting
commercial markets promised in the early 1980s for sat- School of Engineering microwave curriculum has grown
ellite television and data transmission did not come to from 4 to 12 courses, and from 60 to about 500 regis-
pass as competing technology (for example, fiber optics) trants over the past five years.
APL INITIATIVE
APL participates in the Strategic Defense Initiative,
advanced radar and telecommunications, space stations,
military systems (command, control, communications,
and intelligence; electronic countermeasures; battle man-
agement; environmental surveillance and characteriza-
tion; etc.) and national programs for the advancement
of science and technology. In order to contribute to fu-
ture state-of-the-art concepts and their implementation,
APL must refine, expand, and extend its electronics ex-
pertise and capability.
APL has a broad base for electronic design, fabrica-
tion, test, packaging, and analysis; in addition, funda-
• • ~- .- mental research and development is conducted on elec-
• I " .
tronic materials, processes, and devices. In general, em-
fNCHES 1 2
phasis has been on low-frequency analog and digital cir-
C(IfTIIitfT£M
'I II'<1.1 ''III"111.1"11'I111.111111
$1 cuits; consequently, there is a need to re-establish a mi-
I'"' .' '",1
crowave electronics capability. The APL executive com-
Figure 2- The active-array antenna transmit/receive module is mittee has selected microwave/millimeter-wave miniature
a major focus for MIMIC. This module, developed by ITI, inte- microwave circuit technology as an area for future work,
grates power supply and digital control with the microwave with the following objectives:
transmit and receive channels. (Courtesy Aviation Week & Space
Techn%gy. © McGraw-Hili , Inc., 1986 and 1987. All rights re- • Establish a program at APL to pursue state-of-the-
served.) art microwave-electronics efforts.

202 fohn s Hopkin s APL Technical Digest, Volume 9, Number 3 (1988)

 Abita - Micro wave/ Millimeter Wave Technology

MIM
capacitor

Air bridge
Ground plane
crossover

First-level HMM-10610 MMIC

GaAs HMM-11810 MMIC
plated metal
FET
Ground-plane MIM
Implanted
metallization N+ implant capacitor
resistor
(N + or H implant)

Features of a typical MMIC chip

Electrical specifications
Gain 1 dB gain
Small-signal flatness compression Noise
Model no. Frequency gain (over full BW) output power figure
band (dB) (dB) (dBm) (dB) VSWR
(GHz) Min Typ Max Typ Typ Max

HMM-10610 2 to 6 10 12 ±0.5 +19 6 Input 2:1

Output 1.75:1

HMM-11810 6 to 18 4.5 5 ±0.75 + 16.5 6.5 2:1

V DD = 5V, 100 = 120 mA (typical, HMM - 10610)/100 mA (typical, HMM-11810)

Figure 3-A broad range of functions is commercially available as MMIC (monolithic microwave integrated circuit) chips. The
elements of an MMIC are monolithic-lumped and distributed resistors, inductors, capacitors, transmission lines, and active devices.
Ground-plane vias and air-bridge crossovers are elements that allow high-frequency operation of transformers and transistors.
One wideband design approach made practical by MIMIC is the distributed-transmission-line amplifier. (Reprinted with permis-
sion of the Harris Corporation.)

• Identify and define specific internal and external ap- resources must be tailored to meet new specific require-
plications of MIMIC technology. ments. Effective microwave engineering design using
• Develop an in-house program for the design, fabri- captive and external fabrication is being developed.
cation, packaging, test, analysis, and quality assur- APL will integrate and test available MIMIC com-
ance of microwave subsystems. ponents and develop fully custom microwave circuits
• Conduct research and development in new and nov- when the need arises.
el microwave applications and devices.
• Provide education and training of personnel.
MIMIC IN APL SYSTEMS
• Establish a cooperative Homewood-APL program The application of advanced microwave technology
in microwave electronics. is critical to many APL programs. Two examples are
given below.
APL's microwave initiative inherits resources for ac- APL's Space Department has made world-acclaimed
celerated microwave circuit and module development contributions to space science. One instrument that is
that are already in place. Hybrid microwave circuits, part of the Space Department heritage is the radar al-
miniature quasi-monolithic circuits, and passive micro- timeter, which provides both orbital and planetary sur-
wave monolithic integrated- circuit 7 networks can be face data. The trend for radar altimeters is toward higher
fabricated in-house. The typical high cost of MIMIC operating frequencies and smaller volume, weight, and
technology is largely offset by existing electronic and me- power consumption, while raising performance levels.
chanical engineering resources, including processes, as- Altimeters now being developed in the Space Depart-
sembly and machine tools, and test facilities . But those ment use MIMIC technology. The Topography Experi-

fohn s Hopkin s APL Technical Digest, Volume 9, Number 3 (1988) 203

Abita - Micro wave/ Millimeter Wave Technology

ment for Ocean Circulation program includes the devel- it is important that the microwave design be suitable for
opment of an altimeter with a measurement precision manufacture.
of 2 cm that operates at 20 GHz, with a peak power
output of 20 W. An altimeter planned for the Mars Ob- MIMIC Technology
server Radar Altimeter and Radiometer operates at 14 As mentioned earlier, the MIMIC program consists
GHz, and would measure both surface-height variations of efforts in the areas of specification, design, measure-
and surface temperature (the latter is made possible by ment and characterization, acquisition, fabrication,
integrating a microwave radiometer into the radar elec- packaging, and test and evaluation. These areas, while
tronics). Both instruments are solid-state space-qualified different from one another, are inseparable and interde-
applications of advanced microwave technology. pendent, although any of them could exist as a stand-
For such one-of-a-kind systems, technology is selected alone activity. At APL, resources are evolving in all of
and incorporated based on performance, reliability, and those areas of technology.
schedule. But in other, more general cases, additional
considerations are associated with applications, such as Specification
the feasibility of mass production, low-cost, mainte- Several tiers of specification are related to application
nance, and survivability. to MIMIC technology. Figure 5 shows the connectivity
At APL, active arrays and missiles (such as Harpoon, and complexity in deriving specifications, as exemplified
Tomahawk, and the Standard Missile) are natural users by considerations for a V-band (60-GHz) phased ar-
of MIMIC technology. Seeker and fusing functions of ray. 8 Microwave experience and expertise is necessary
those modern missiles are being developed so as to have at this initial phase to generate a development guide with
autonomous behavior for identification, friend or foe; adequate detail and definition for effective technical im-
targeting; and intercept. Given the volume, reliability, plementation. High-capacity computer-aided-engineering
and economic constraints associated with missiles, meet- design stations allow for the storage, recall, and distribu-
ing performance goals will require systems that integrate tion of experience.
MIMIC and VHSIC.
That application is ideal for illustration of the new Design
technology. Figure 4 shows an example of the benefits The flrst commercial microwave computer-aided-engi-
of the new technology. With thousands of units involved, neering program was offered in 1971 by Tymeshare. It

MIMIC seeker transceiver:

7-W peak power

1-GHz bandwidth
12-d8 receiver noise figure
34-d8 antenna gain
\

Parameter MIMIC
3
Size (cm ) 38 13
Weight (g) 540 140
Unit production 5 1.5
cost ($k)
Production quantity 300 300
(x1000)
Production cost 1500 450
($M)

Figure 4-An example of improvement in performance and cost by using MIMIC.

204 f ohns Hopkins A PL Technical Digest, Volume 9, N umber 3 (1988)

 Abita - Microwave/Millimeter Wave Technology

Number of chips,
submodules, trays;
number of functions,
(HPA, LNA, phase-shift)
polarization
Compatible CTS,
heat removal, Module versus
thin substrates

Figure 5-Microwave system devel·

opment presents a challenge to inte-
grate all the facets of electrical,
Requirements Depth mechanical, thermal, environmental,
for power, gain beamformer cost, and operational design. 8
low-noise chip (space, (Reprinted with permission of Micro-
size constrained) wave J., from the January 1987 issue,
material © 1987 Horizon House-Microwave,
Inc.)

Rigidity,
size, weight,
material precision
Fabrication
assembly
chip cost/yield
reliability
testability

performed two-port cascade analysis and incorporated There are different approaches to computer circuit de-
a small number of standard elements (electrical param- sign. One uses nodal construction and circuit descrip-
eters). Shortly thereafter, the popular Compact software tions in the form of text fIles containing element descrip-
(from Compact Engineering) became available. It had tors and electrical and material parameters, entered ac-
nodal and two-port analysis, optimization, transmission cording to a structured order and syntax. Circuits can
line synthesis, S-parameter data fIles, and noise analysis. be defined and reused so as to have virtually unlimited
It was used for linear, small-signal, steady-state circuit complexity. Another scheme is also nodal in foundation,
design. At that time, computer power was far below but defines circuits by pictorial manipulation of elements
what it is today. on a displayed schematic. This latter method is similar
The rapid evolution of microcomputers from 8-bit to to computer-aided drafting, wherein electrical parameters
32-bit workstations serendipitously supported a similar are treated as attributes entered as part of the schematic
pace in the development of microwave engineering soft- object. Performance output (measurements) can be
ware. Today, fourth-generation software is offered by selected from a myriad of presentations in tabular or
EEsof, Compact Engineering, Hewlett-Packard, and graphic display. Figure 6 shows an example of the screen
others, with impressive capabilities (for example, menu environment for each of these.
environment, full-screen editing, high-resolution color Rapid advances are being made in the accuracy of mi-
graphics, large libraries of standard and user-definable crowave computer-aided engineering. Those include ad-
elements, optimization, and tuning). Reasonably priced vances in verified elemental models, user-defined ele-
personal computers can now accommodate linear and ments, active-device models, and other aspects of micro-
nonlinear mixed analysis, steady-state and transient per- wave design.
formance evaluation, thermal and process considera-
tions, systems-level to device-level focus, network syn- MICROWAVE MEASUREMENTS
thesis, computer-generated pattern layout, interactive Understanding the nature and behavior of microwave
design-test interfacing, and foundry application-specific circuit elements is critical to successful design. Test and
integrated-circuit definition. measurement of millimeter-wave frequencies, perhaps the
APL has established modern microwave-design re- most difficult aspect of microwave engineering, offers
sources that couple microwave software with powerful challenges in the areas of calibration standards and tech-
workstations, pattern generators, and test equipment to niques, test fixture design, instrumentation, and analysis.
provide such features. Computer-aided testing enhances systemic error correc-

fohns Hopkins APL Technical Digest, Volume 9, Number 3 (1988) 205

Abita - M icro wave/ Millimeter Wa ve Technology
EEsof - TOUCHSTONE - 07/30/87 - 07:35 :23 - CRBTM25A EEsof - TOUCHSTONE - 07/30 /87 - 07 :37 :52 - CRBTM25A

PREDICTED MEASURED MEASURED PREDICTED PRE DICTED MEASU RED

o DB I S21 I 0 DB I S21 I t> DB I S21 I 0 DB I S21 I D ANG I S21 I 0 ANG I S21 I
MBUTl MBUTl MBUTl MBUTl MBUTl MSBUT 1
O.OOOO ,..;::::--Q--D----o_: : : : : : o - - - - . - - - - - - - - - ------, O.OOOO 180.0 , -- - -- ; - - - - - - - - - r -- - - : - -- - - -- - - - ,

- 24 .oo ~-----____*--____1~----___'t:~,__-~ O.OOOOt---- -+-- ·- -- '\--- -+- - - f--- -- - - --J

- 48.00 L--_L--_L--_L-----'-L - - _ L - - _ L - -_ L - -_ L------lL-----l - 4.000

50.00 1300.00 2550.00 130000 2250.00
FREQ·M Hz FREQ·MHz

I THiS IS AMICROSTRIPVERSION OF A5TH ORDER BUnERWORTH LPF

! WITHA3 dBBW OF960 MHz.
I DATE1986 DEC 15 NAME: Chris Rice FILE CRBTM25A.CKT
TOUCHSTONE VERSION 1.45
CKT MiCAD layout of the microstrip filter
IND 12L- L1
CAP 2 0 C- C2
IND23L -L3
CAP 3 0 C- C4
IND 3 4 L-L5
DEF2P1 4 BUn ! IDEAL FILTER
MSUBER= 2.2 H=31 T= 1.4 RHO= 0.72 RGH=0025 • • >--->
TAND TAND=0 0009 ~: 'l > ~
MTAPER 1 2 Wl - WT W2-WF L- LT
MLiN 2 3 W-WF L-LF
MSTEP 3 4 Wl -WF W2-WA
MLiN 4 5 W-WA L-LA ! SIMULATING IND. L1
MSTEP 5 6 Wl -WA W2- WB I DIFFERENCE IN WIDTHS
MLiN 6 7 W-WB L-LB ! SIMULATING CAP. C2
MSTEP 7 8 Wl -WB W2-WA DIFFERENCE IN WIDTH
MLiN 8 9 W-WA L- LC SIMULATING IND. L3
MSTEP 9 10 Wl -WA W2-WB DIFFERENCE IN WIDTHS
MLiN 10 11 W-WB L- LB SIMULATING CAP. C4. BUT C4= C2
MSTEP 11 12 Wl - WB W2-WA ! DIFFERENCE INWIDTHS
MLiN 12 13 W-WA L- LA I SIMULATING IND. L5. BUTL5=L1
MSTEP 13 14 Wl -WA W2-WF
MLiN 14 15 W-WF L- LF
MTAPER 15 16 Wl- WF W2-WT L- LT
DEF2P 1 16 MBun I MICROSTRIPFILTER WITH 50 OHM
! LINES ATIACHED TO EACH END
S2PA o A:MSMBT960.S2P
DEF2P MSBun ! MEASURED DATA OF THE
! MICROSTRIPFILTER

Figure 6-0ne of the most significant factors responsible for the rapid pace of modern microwave technology is computer-aided
engineering. Text description and pictorial schematic capture are two approaches to the design environment. (Reprinted with per-
mission of EEsof and Hewlett-Packard .)

tion and the characterization of test fixtures. Test data Acquisition

output is compatible with computer-aided-engineering
design software so that measurements can be directly in- This function (usually underemphasized) can be as ba-
jected into circuit-analysis programs. sic as ordering capacitors or as complex as assuring the
Testing uncertainty is often caused by interaction be- timely receipt of performance-verified, reliable monolith-
tween the device under test and the test fixture; progress ic devices. The performance of components for micro-
is being made in this area in several directions. Better wave applications is influenced by construction, material,
test fixtures and (on-chip) standards 9 are available now and operating frequency. Unfortunately, because of this
than were available several years ago, alternate methods situation, there is a "uniqueness of part" in microwave
of calibration and test-fixture characterization are pos- engineering that must be taken into consideration. In ad-
sible, and advances in high-frequency probes and probe dition to component acquisition, there are selection and
systems allow direct high-frequency access to device evaluation of external commercial processing and pack-
ports. Modern automatic network analyzers with a high- aging services. Process variations are intrinsic to these
frequency probe station can perform direct chip-on- areas and must be incorporated into performance sen-
wafer measurements to millimeter-wave frequencies. 10 sitivity analysis as part of the design process.

206 fo hns Hopkins APL Technical Digest, Volume 9, N umber 3 (1988)

 Abita - Micro wave/ Millimeter Wave Technology

Process ble coupling, and requirements stemming from applica-

Monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs) tion constraints.
and hybrid microwave-circuit designs are implemented Figure 7 shows a chip package used for MMIC
using substrates from a broad and diverse range of mi- mounting, II and a transmit/receive module integration
crowave circuit materials. Processes and materials used scheme. 8 Note the integration of microwave, optical,
affect performance, whether it is a single-layer printed and digital technology in the same module. Packaging
circuit on Teflon or a gallium-arsenide monolithic inte- for high-frequency or high-speed operation in a systems
grated circuit. environment continues to be a challenge and a limiting
Major advances in microwave technology have been factor for microwave systems. Standardization is not
brought about by the development of reliable processes likely to occur beyond MMIC chip carriers. 12
for materials growth and preparation and circuit fabrica- APL has extensive microwave design, machines, pro-
tion. Just as components and packaging considerations cesses, materials, assembly, and test resources for chip-
must be incorporated as an integral part of the electronic level to system-level insertion of MIMIC/VHSIC tech-
design, processes must also be incorporated. The micro- nology; packaging is a strong point in engineering ex-
wave designer is familiar with the behavior and in- perience. Current and future efforts will draw on pack-
fluences associated with processes used to produce a cir- aging expertise and experience in microwave system in-
cuit, and aware of how they relate to achieving the de- tegration.
sign specifications. Modern process equipment at APL
deposits materials that are patterned by high-resolution SYSTEMS CONSIDERATIONS
lithographic techniques to form the elements of an There are two types of MIMIC insertion-replacement
MMIC chip (Fig. 3). insertion and beneficial insertion. The former is usually
Organizations working on microwave technology must a direct substitution (form, fit, and function) for an ex-
consider process control and standardization; in addition, isting unit. Replacement insertion objectives are useful
characteristic process data must be made available to and can direct technology growth. It can build experi-
designers. ence, confidence, reputation, and awareness; unfortu-
Three basic process levels can be defined, according nately, replacement insertion does not nuture and sus-
to the type of substrate: soft materials for spatially dis- tain technology development.
tributed circuits, hard materials for distributed circuits, Beneficial insertion sustains and encourages the
and materials for monolithic or quasi-monolithic dis- growth of technology. Thus, the benefits of using MIM-
tributed-lumped circuits. IC result in system improvements.
APL has a background in electronic processing of ma- MIMIC technology will continue to grow because it
terials that is immediately applicable to microwave-circuit can provide performance improvements that would be
fabrication. Its resources are extensive and are suitable otherwise unattainable, especially for radar. 13 But it has
for work ranging from simple printed circuits to quasi- also been pointed out that:
monolithic components on exotic materials. Because of
the different requirements of high-frequency circuits (as "At the outset, designers must decide whether MMIC tech-
compared to hybrid or digital circuits), microwave-spec- nology is a viable candidate for their circuit function-if
ific processes are under development. The radar -array the circuit elements required are available in MMIC form
module mentioned earlier can be fabricated at APL. with adequate performance characteristics. Second, designers
The Eisenhower Research Center recently installed a must look at cost and reliability considerations." 14
metal organic chemical vapor deposition reactor used in
the preparation of engineered materials-layered micro- Figure 8 shows an example of benefits to be realized
structures (2 to 20 nm) of doped semiconductors make with MIMIC; in addition, there are the obvious associat-
possible high-electron-mobility transistors that operate ed improvements in weight, volume, efficiency, and reli-
at frequencies above 100 GHz. ability. 15 Hybrid microwave circuits have been used for
Packaging over 20 years, and their reliability and failure mechan-
In addition to the mechanical, the _ :11, and environ- isms are fairly well established. The availability of gal-
mental aspects typical of electronic integration, there are lium-arsenide monolithic circuits has encouraged reliabil-
many other considerations, such as electromagnetic com- ity evaluations that show that MMIC modules are even
patibility, cavity resonance, surface waves, isolation, more reliable than hybrid microwave circuits. 16 (In
crosstalk, spurious modes, and parasitics. Self-contained passing, it should be noted that both microwave and
modules also require direct-current bias supplies that do high-speed digital circuits based on gallium arsenide are
not affect the microwave function. They must be regu- radiation-hardened to levels approaching 10 8 Rad. 17 )
lated, filtered, and isolated, yet must be in close prox- There is an especially positive attribute of using mono-
imity to high-frequency circuit regions. lithic microwave circuits in large quantities where con-
The subject of microwave packaging is too complex sistent performance is necessary (for example, an active
to be dealt with in this article. In general, close attention array having thousands of elements). The consistent and
must be given to microwave input and output connectors exacting processes of microelectronic fabrication meth-
and transitions, compartmental package design, ground ods coupled with the distributed-lumped nature of
integrity, component and substrate attachment, undesira- MMICs result in excellent chip-to-chip performance con-

fohns Hopkins APL Technical Digest, VolUme 9, Number 3 (1988) 207

Abita - Micro wave/ Millimeter Wave Technology

Input/ output impedance-

matching section (wiring options)

II
0.500 in.
Bias line ferro-electric
decoupling section

Lid-sealing surface
(1.27 cm)

Gnd "-----r..:=:::!.1 I..!::::=='T"-..... Gnd

VGGs~~-=~ I.!::::=='T"-..... V GGA
r;:=::::u...._.., NC
NC "----.=:::!.I
V DDs '----.=:::!.I
r;:=::::u...._-, Gnd
GndC::~~
Figure 7-Perhaps the most chal-
lenging aspect of microwave design MMIC chip/carrier
is packaging. Whether a single chip
or a complex multi-technology mod-
ule, a high degree of interaction and
interdependence must be managed o
to interface and integrate circuitry.((a)
reprinted with permission of Micro-
wave J., from the November 1987 is-
sue, © 1986 Horizon House-Micro-
wave, Inc.; (b) reprinted with permis-
.I
sion of Microwave J., from the Janu- (a) MMIC power amplifier package assembly detail.
ary 1987 issue, © 1987 Horizon
House-Microwave, Inc.)

Module
controller

Multielement
transmit/ receive Line-array structure
module and coolant channels

(b) V-band brick module concept.

sistency. Test data for an MMIC 2- to 6-GHz amplifier Table 2 shows the MMIC components that are avail-
cell shows excellent consistency of the small-signal gain able and their performance level. 20 Performance and
for 29 chips selected from the same run (Fig. 9).18 yield of MMICs have increased dramatically over the
One major consideration for future high-performance past 10 years; the range of products and number of com-
systems is cost. Historically, microwave modules have mercial suppliers have done the same,21 as have the at-
a major proportion of their cost associated with assem- tention and investment by all the major systems houses.
bly, test, and adjustment of performance to meet specifi- All are strong indicators of the importance and future
cation tolerances. Those necessities make some micro- impact of MIMIC technology.
wave systems economically impractical to build and
maintain. For example, current active phased-array hy-
brid microwave transmit/receive modules cost about SUMMARY
$2000 to $4000, in quantity. Not counting the array-
integration costs, an X-band, 3000-element array face MIMIC is a new technology for advanced system de-
would cost $12 million. One goal of the Department of velopment. APL's MIMIC initiative is:
Defense MIMIC initiative is to achieve improved-
performance MMIC transmit/receive modules at a cost • To realize beneficial insertion of MIMIC tech-
of $250 per module. 19 This would reduce the aforemen- nology.
tioned array-face module cost to $750,000, with opera- • To develop components applicable to microwave
tional costs also reduced considerably because of im- systems.
proved reliability, efficiency, and availability, and • To package and integrate commercially available
replacement ease. MIMIC components.

208 fohns Hopkins APL Technical Digest, Volume 9, Number 3 (1988)

 Abita - Micro wave/ Millimeter Wave Technology

Table 2- Typical performance of MMIC components.

Performance
MMIC Component Frequency Noise Figure Gain
Range (GHz) (dB) (dB)

Small-signal amplifiers 3-5 1.5 22

(narrow band) 10-12 2 30
28-30 7 14

Small-signal amplifiers 2-18 5-7.5 6

(wide band) 8-26 4-6 6
2-30 7.5-8 .5 9

MMIC Component Frequency Power output Gain Efficiency

Range (GHz) (W) (dB) (0/0 )

Power amplifiers (4-stage) 7.5 1.3 32 30

(narrow band) (I-stage) 10.0 2.0 4 15
(3-stage) 16.5 2.0 12 20
(I-stage) 28.0 1.1 3 10.8

Power amplifiers (2-stage) 3.5- 8 2.0 10 20

(wide band) (I-stage) 2-20 0.8 4 15

MMIC Component Frequency Conversion

Range (GHz ) loss
(dB)

Mixers 15 10
30 6
95 7.5

MMIC Component Frequency Power output

Range (GHz) (dBm)

Power source 0-10 15

30-35 30
60-70 -4

MMIC Component Frequency Insertion loss

Range (GHz) (dB)

Phase shifter (6-bit) 5-6 9.5

( ± I-dB ripple)
(5-bit) 17.7-20 3-4
0
( ± 6 phase error)

MMIC Component Frequency Isolation Loss

Range (GHz) (dB) (dB)

SPDT switch DC-4 35 0.8

0-20 30 2.0

John s Hopkin s A PL Technical Digest, Volume 9, N umber 3 (1988) 209

Abita - Microwave/Millimeter Wave Technology
30
28 Yield 29/30
Vo 10 V
26
los = 95 mA
24
22
CO
~ 20
c::
·ro 18
(9

16
14

12
10
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Frequency (GHz)

Comparison task Hybrid module Monolithic module Figure 9-Consistent performance without tuning is a benefit
of MIMIC. Excellent qualitative and good qualitative perfonnance
Number of gold wires 253 18
is characteristic of this 2- to 6-GHZ MMIC amplifier chip.
Number of piece parts 117 10
Assembly time (h) 16 1
Tune time (h) 10 No tuning required
RF parameters Same as monolithic Same as hybrid
Cost (1984) $2500 (primarily labor) $500 (primarily parts) 3Aviat. Week Space Techno!. 127, 91 (1987).
4R. Allen, "Military Electronics," E!ectron. Des. 35, 62-72 (1987).
5E. Brus, "Vehicular Radar: The Ultimate Aid for Defensive Driving?", Mi-
Figure 8-Department of Defense MIMIC program will acceler- cro wave RF 30, 53-58 (1987).
60. Allison, "Automation in the Skies," High Techno!. 2, 40-48 (1982).
ate transition from hybrid microwave integrated-circuit technol-
7ElectroniCast Corp., "MIMIC Overview," Monolithic Techno!., 50-54 (1987).
ogy to the smaller, potentially much-lower-cost monolithic 8J. A . Kinzel, B. J. Edward, and D. Rees, "V-Band, Space-Based Phased Ar-
technology. Shown is a hybrid voltage-controlled oscillator rays," Microwave J. 30, 89-102 (1987) .
(above left) and its monolithic counterpart (right), produced by 9J. Staudinger, "MMIC Tests Improved with Standards on Chip," Microwave
Texas Instruments. Below is a comparison of the number of RF 26, 107-114 (1987) .
piece parts and labor content for each technique. 15 (Courtesy 10K. E. Jones and K. R. Gleason, "mrn-Wave Wafer Probes Span 0 to 50 GHz,"
of Aviation Week & Space Technology, © McGraw-Hili , Inc., Microwave J. 30, 177- 183 (1987) .
1986 and 1987. All rights reserved.) lIB . A. Ziegner, " High Performance MMIC Hermetic Packaging," Microwave
J. 29, 133-139 (1986).
12R. S. Pengelly and P . Schumacher, " High-Performance 20 GHz Package for
GaAs MMICs," Microwave Syst. News Commun . Techno!. 18, 10-19 (1988).
13J. L. Armitage, " Electronic Warfare Solid-State Phased Arrays," Microwave
• To conduct materials research on high-temperature J. 29, 109-122 (1986).
superconductive films and engineered materials for 14c. Milton, "EW Systems Require Optimum Use of MMICs for Quality
device and component development. Gains," Microwave RF 26, 145-151 (1987).
15p . J. Kloss, "Electronic Warfare Part 2: 2CXX> and Beyond," Aviat. Week Space
Future projects may develop in microwave, digital, Techno!. 124, 60- 67 (1986).
16p. Ho, T . Andrade, and E. Johnson, "GaAs MMIC Reliability Analysis and
acoustic, and optic integration for signal processing and Its Impact on Microwave Systems ," Microwave Syst. News Commun. Tech-
sensors. no!. 17, 130-133 (1987).
17R. H . Maurer and S. J . Mobley, "Radiation Hardness of Commercially Avail-
An effective MIMIC effort at APL requires work in able Small Scale and Medium Scale Gallium Arsenide Integrated Circuits,"
two major areas: (1) development of broad functional JHU I APL SOR-87034 (1987); also M. Simons, " Radiation Effects in Gallium
microwave capability, resources, and technology, and (2) Arsenide Integrated Circuits: A Comparison with Silicon," IEEE Ga!ium Ar-
senide Integrated Circuit Symp. Tech . Dig., 124-128 (1983).
demonstration, implementation, and beneficial insertion 18 R. Genin, J. Wachsman, S. Moghe, P. Ho, and A. Podell, "A 2-6 GHz GaAs
of MIMIC. New microwave technology has been and MMIC Limiting Amplifier with Low Second Harmonic Distortion," in Proc.
will continue to be very important at APL. GaAs IC Symp., Grenelefe, Fla., pp. 74-77 (1986) .
19S. A. Bhay, R. Gayal, and R. Wade, "Manufacturing Cost Analysis of
Monolithic X-Band Phased-Array T I R Module," Microwave Syst. News Com-
REFERENCES mun. Techno!. 17, 32-40 (1987).
I M. Zeleny, "High Technology Management," Hum . Syst. Manage. 6, 109-120 20 International Symposium Digests, 1988 MIT-S, IEEE 88CH2489-3, Vois. I
(1986). and II (May 1988); 1987 MIT-S, IEEE 87CH2395-2, Vols. I and II, (Jun 1987).
2E. D. Cohen, "MIMIC: Improving Military Electronic Systems for the 1990's," 21 J . Browne, " GaAs ICs: A Guide for the Connoisseur," Microwave RF 25,
Defense Electronics 19, 87 (1987). 135- 142 (1986) .

210 Johns Hopkins APL Technical Digest, Volume 9, Number 3 (/988)

 Abita - Micro wave/ Millimeter Wave Technology

THE AUTHOR

JOSEPH L. ABITA is a member of

APL's Principal Professional Staff.
He serves as the assistant to the
branch supervisor for engineering
technology in the Engineering and
Fabrication Branch and is engaged
in technology development, imple-
mentation program/ project manage-
ment, and business development. He
is also the MIMIC Insertion/ Inde-
pendent Research and Development
program' coordinator, concentrating
on establishing capability and appli-
cations for microwave monolithic
technology in concert with Depart-
ment of Defense initiatives in this
area. Dr. Abita has held manage-
ment and technical positions at COMSAT Laboratories, General Elec-
tric, and Eastman Kodak . During his career at APL, he has supervised
and contributed to microelectronic research and development for satel-
lites, biomedical applications, and advanced technology related to elec-
tronic signal and data processing. Dr. Abita is a senior member of the
IEEE with honors, publications, and patents in his field; he is an in-
structor at The Johns Hopkins University G. W . C. Whiting School of
Engineering, a member of the APL Advanced Technology Committee
and the Committee on Advisory Board Fellows and Professors, and
Chairman of the Electromechanical Advisory Committee for the Mont-
gomery College Germantown campus.

Johns Hopkins APL Technical Digest, Volume 9, Number 3 (1988) 211