MONOLITHIC GAAS LOW PHASE NOISE FREQUENCY SOURCES FOR MILSTAR AND ADVANCED DSCS APPLICATIONS

DEVELOPMENT OF AN ADVANCED K-BAND MONOLITHIC GAAS LOW PHASE NOISE FREQUENCY SOURCE BASED ON RECENT BREAKTHROUGHS IN DEVICE AND MMIC TECHNOLOGY IS PROPOSED BY MICROWAVE MONOLITHICS INCORPORATED THROUGH THE IMPLEMENTATION OF A 20 GHZ MONOLITHIC PHASE LOCKABLE FREQUENCY SOURCE. SMALLER SIZE, INCREASED RELIABILITY, AND ENHANCED PERFORMANCE FOR APPLICATIONS SUCH AS MILSTAR AND ADVANCED DSCS WILL BECOME FEASIBLE AFTER DEVELOPMENT OF THIS KEY COMPONENT, WHICH IS FULLY COMPATIBLE WITH GAAS MONOLITHIC MICROWAVE AND MILLIMETER-WAVE INTEGRATED CIRCUIT TECHNOLOGY. A PROPRIETARY LOW 1/F NOISE THREE TERMINAL ACTIVE DEVICE COMPATIBLE WITH MONOLITHIC INTEGRATION ON GAAS SUBSTRATES, IN CONJUNCTION WITH ADVANCED OSCILLATOR CIRCUIT DESIGNS, MAKE THIS TECHNICAL OBJECTIVE POSSIBLE. IMPROVEMENT IN PHASE NOISE OF BETTER THAN 10 DB BELOW PRESENT GAAS MESFET COMPONENTS, AND HIGHER EFFICIENCY THAN GUNN DIODE AND FREQUENCY-MULTIPLE SI BIPOLAR TRANSISTOR COMPONENTS, ARE EXPECTED. FEASIBILITY OF THE PROPOSED MONOLITHIC CIRCUIT WILL BE DEMONSTRATED IN PROGRAM PHASE I BY CUSTOMIZATION OF THE DESIGN OF MMINC.'S EXISTING X-BAND DEVICE FOR K-BAND OPERATION AND DETAILED DESIGN/ANALYSIS OF THE MONOLITHIC FREQUENCY SOURCE, FOLLOWED BY IMPLEMENTATION AND EVALUATION OF THIS COMPONENT IN PROGRAM PHASE II.