Phased Array Antenna on a Wafer

The ongoing explosion of microwave radar and communications systems calls for improvement in electronically scanned antennas (ESAs). However, current ESAs crafted from multiple individual elements are extremely expensive. Forming an antenna with integrated scanning and impedance matching elements on a single substrate using thin film technologies may decrease costs by up to two orders of magnitude, allowing essentially disposable antennas. This approach is particularly appealing as microwave frequencies increase, since geometries shrink, making bulk solutions more expensive and those employing thin films less expensive. In Phase I, we will demonstrate a tunable embedded strip line device at 19 GHz with dynamic impedance matching, using ferroelectric BaSrTiO3 (BST) thin films for tunable elements. ATMI has extensive experience with deposition of BST thin films by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition, which offers the ability to make very high quality ferroelectric material. Intrinsic losses as low 0.002 at 1 MHz in thin film BST produced by MOCVD have been demonstrated, with dielectric constants of >500 at 30 GHz. Phase I will also address design issues in preparation for Phase II, which will culminate in a prototype multielement ESA fabricated on a single substrate.