S-BAND FERROELECTRIC PHASE SHIFTER

The advancements in thin-film manufacturing brought about by the development of the combustion chemical vapor deposition process has opened the door to a new class of microwave devices enabled by ferroelectric materials. One device in particular, aferroelectric phase shifter, shows promise as a way of reinvigorating the development of phased array radar systems. Costly phase shifter designs, with prices around $25, have stymied interest in building large phased array radar antennas and haveprevented the technology from being adopted by the private sector. A new monolithic phase shifter design is proposed that utilizes the ferroelectric material BaxSr1-xTiO3 (BST). The goal is to lower the cost of a phase shifter by 80%, to a price lessthan $5 and to reduce the size and weight by 50% over conventional designs. Such a device would reignite interest in phased array antennas for military applications and for commercial systems like smart antenna base stations for the wireless industry.Overone million elements and phase shifters have been manufactured for the needs of such programs as the Patriot, AEGIS, and Flap Lid radar antennas. The needs of even one radar program can drive high volume module production (e.g. 360 phase shifters and34,769 elements were required for COBRA DANE radar systems). MMIC based components are currently utilized for these systems. For a 2 GHZ PCS band application, the current phase shifter costs are around $25/phase shifter which inhibit the commercialantenna vendors from adopting the active arrays. Consultations with industrial partners indicate that reducing phase shifter costs 80%, to $5, will make the technology attractive for large-scale use. Successful development of CCVD ferroelectric thin filmtechnology for phase shifter applications will result in competitive pricing and will enable MCT and its industrial partners to capture a substantial share of this market over the next decade. Not only does CCVD have the potential for playing a pivotalrole in defending/establishing the phase shifter industry in the U.S., the commercialization path that MCT will pursue with industry alliance partners will create a substantial number of highly-skilled and high-paying jobs.