SBIR-STTR Award

Advancements in solid-state device technology make possible new solutions for mm-wave power sources. A variety of modern three-terminal devices including pseudomorphic high electron mobility transistors (phemts), gaas fets, and heterojunction bipolar transistors (hbts) are emerging as the preferred devices to meet the power generation requirements in modern military and coumiercial mm-wave systems. Additionally, an important two-terminal device, the epitaxially-stacked varactor (isis-diode) offers substantial power output capability at these frequencies. Benefits associated with the use of these devices for mm-wave power generation include higher efficiency, improved reliability, reduced size and lower cost when compared to current impatt-diode-based solutions. Application of this next generation of devices to transmitters, particularly at q-band (44 ghz) for communications and at w-band (94 ghz) for smart munitions (radar), will positively impact performance in terms of reliability, maintainability, producibility and cost. We propose to identify new building blocks using these devices which could deliver power levels in the 1-3 watt range for these devices which could be power-combined for higher output levels. Use of these basic building blocks could have a significant and near-term impact on the design and implementation of portable communication terminals, 94 ghz seeker designs and other important systems.

Keywords:
Millimeter-wave amplifiers power combining millimeter-wave transistors 94 gez radar isis diode ehf

The Phase II development effort will extend the investigations undertaken in Phase I and expand the technology basefor producible and reliable EHF power generation with frequency multipliers using epitaxilly-stacked (ISIS) varactor diodes.The work effort will be focused in three areas and culminate in the demonstration of significant CW power output at 94 GHz. One phase of the program will be concerned with the design and manufacture of 2- and 3-stack ISIS diodes for reliable operation at W-band (94GHz) with a goal of 1 watt output power from a single device. This effort will be subcontracted to Microwave Device Technology, Inc. (MDT). In-house efforts will design and develop circuits and combiners suitable for achieving high output power levels from the MDT devices. Both conventional waveguide and planar circuits will be designed and evaluated, and power-combining techniques most suitable for ISIS multipliers will be identified and implemented on a modest level. A deliverable 94 GHz power source representative of the technology developed under the Phase II program will have a goal to demonstrate a reliable 2 watts output power over a 1 GHz bandwidth.