ADVANCED LOW-COST UNIVERSAL 20 GHZ MONOLITHIC RECEIVER FRONT-END

THIS PROJECT WILL STUDY THE DESIGN OF A MONOLITHIC MICROWAVE INTEGRATED CIRCUIT (MMIC) IMPLEMENTATION OF A VERSATILE, LOW COST, MULTI-BAND 20 GHZ RECEIVER FRONT-END. THE TECHNICAL HIGHLIGHT OF THE RECEIVER FRONT-END MMIC CHIP SET IS AN INNOVATIVE LOCAL OSCILLATOR (LO) APPROACH FOR UNIVERSAL APPLICABILITY INCLUDING THE 30/20 GHZ COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS AND THE 22-23 GHZ BANDS. PHASE I CONCENTRATES ON THE DETAILED DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF THE CRITICAL LOW NOISE AMPLIFIER (LNA) AND LO CHIPS TO SHOW CONCEPT FEASIBILITY. INCLUDED IN THE PHASE I STUDY ARE ACCURATE ESTIMATES OF CHIP PERFORMANCE AND OVERALL PERFORMANCE OF THE RECEIVER FRONT END. DESIGN OF THE REMAINING NON-CRITICAL COMPONENTS, INCLUDING THE MIXER AND IF AMPLIFIER, WILL BE COMPLETED IN PHASE II; A MASK TOOL SET WILL ALSO BE GENERATED AT THAT TIME AND USED TO FABRICATE THE CHIP SET. THE DESIGN FREQUENCY BAND IS TENTATIVELY SET AT 17.7-20.2 GHZ. THIS WILL PERMIT ADAPTATION TO NEIGHBORING FREQUENCIES WITH MINOR MASK MODIFICATIONS.