SBIR-STTR Award

The silicon-germanium heterojunction bipolar transistor (SiGe HBT) is the first practical bandgap-engineered device to be realized in silicon. SiGe HBT technology combines transistor performance competitive with III-V technologies with the processing maturity, integration levels, yield, and hence, cost commonly associated with conventional Si fabrication. In the seventeen years since the first demonstration of a functional transistor, SiGe HBT technology has emerged from the research laboratory, entered manufacturing on 200-mm wafers, and is poised to enter the commercial RF and microwave market. State of-the-art SiGe HBT's can deliver: 1. fT in excess of 90 GHz; 2. fmax in excess of 120 GHz 3. minimum noise figure below 1.5 dB at 10.0 GHz 4. 1/f noise corner frequencies below 500 Hz. 5. cryogenic operation 6. excellent radiation hardness 7. reliability comparable to Si. A host of record-setting digital, analog, RF, and microwave circuits have been demonstrated in the past several years using SiGe HBT's, and recent work on passives and transmission lines on Si suggest a migratory path to Si-based monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMIC's) is possible. The combination of SiGe HBT's with advanced Si CMOS to form a SiGe BiCMOS technology represents a unique opportunity for Si-based RF system-on-a-chip solutions

For this Air Force Phase II effort, X-Band, Ku-Band and K-Band radiation-hardened SiGe-based MMICs will be designed and fabricated which integrate ALL of the T/R module functions (digital and analog) on a single chip. This MMIC is essential in realizing the cost and performance metrics necessary for use in future DoD radar and communication programs. These chips will be ready for integration into production programs at the end of this Phase II effort. MMICMAN will utilize the Jazz Semicondcutor foundry in Newport Beach, CA. Jazz is currently working with the Air Force on rad-hard SiGe processes. As part of this Air Force Phase II effort, MMICMAN has secured the endorsement and additional funding from the Missile Defense Agency (MDA). The MDA will provide an additional $750K of funding should the Air Force award this Phase II. In addition, MMICMAN has secured the endorsement and buy commitment from Boeing. Boeing has many programs that can leverage the use of these chips. MMICMAN is currently working with Boeing on packaging technologies which will eventually be used with all three SiGe MMICs. Both the MDA endorsement and funding commitment letter and Boeing endorsement letter are provided with this proposal

Keywords:
SiGe, radhard, MMIC, T/R module, lightweight, phased array