Computer Aided Modeling of Millimeter-Wave Frequency Monolithic Integrated Circuits

Compact Software, a leading software company in development of CAD tools for microwave industry has teamed up with Martin Marietta, Electronic and Missile System group, to develop accurate CAD tools for Coplanar Waveguide (CPW) discontinuity structures. The lack of comprehensive design information on discontinuities and other interacting structures, especially in the commercial CAD-tools, has so far precluded CPW transmission lines from being extensively used in MMICs. To this date, there are no commercially available CAD tools which can support both simulation and optimization of circuits containing CPW discontinuities. Therefore, a designer has to design coplanar circuits using a combination of CAD-tools which neither inspires design confidence nor achieves first pass success. During Phase I, we will identify, design, and fabricate a comprehensive set of CPW discontinuities applicable to GaAs monolithic circuits. We will establish feasibility by developing accurate discontinuity models for a selected number of structures over a large range of physical parameters experiments. During the Phase II program, we will complete the modeling and validation tasks for over 200 dicontinuity structures. The validated models will then be used to design and fabricate two coplanar millimeter-wave monolithic amplifiers. The final discontinuity models will be integrated into our commercially available circuit simulators. Anticipated Benefits: Inclusion of the proposed CPW discontinuity models in our commercially available circuit simulators will enhance the accuracy of coplanar based MMIC designs. Since no other CAD vendor offers such models, we anticipate product distribution in excess of 2000 units within the completion of Phase II program.