High Speed X-Band Single Pole 4 Throw Switch

This solicitation calls for the investigation and development of a specialized high performance X-band Single Pole 4 Throw (SP4T) microwave switch. This switch will be used in used at the US Army AMCOM's Hardware-in-the-Loop (HWIL) facilities. The currently used PIN switch technology has rise and fall times on the order of 200 nS, as the goal is to switch at a rate of 60 MHz switching speeds on the order of 3 nS are required. In conjunction with demanding insertion loss and isolation requirements the specification is extremely challenging. This proposal presents the methodology to be used during Phase I to develop the optimal switch. Simulations presented in the proposal include insertion loss, isolation, switching speed, video feed through and various transient simulations. In this proposal we describe several technological alternatives to PIN technology for fast switching the most promising candidates including MESFET, PHEMT and MHEMT technologies. These technologies are all depletion mode FET based technologies and while their cut-off frequency is considerably lower than that of PIN technologies their switching speed is superior. The three terminal structure of the FET devices and the fact that they do not require a DC current to sustain their ON state makes biasing them simpler in comparison to PIN devices. The Phase I option will be used to develop the interface and packaging concepts required to achieve the isolation and interface goals for the SP4T.