MONOLITHIC FET CONFIGURATION WITH INCREASED VOLTAGE SWITCHING CAPABILITY AND APPLICATION TO HIGH POWER MICROWAVE SIGNAL CONTROL

MICROWAVE SIGNAL CONTROL COMPONENTS ARE REQUIRED FOR VARIOUS MILITARY SYSTEMS APPLICATIONS. IMPROVEMENTS IN THE AREAS OF INCREASED POWER HANDLING CAPABILITY, REDUCED INSERTION LOSS, SIMPLIFIED DRIVER REQUIREMENTS, FASTER SWITCHING TIMES, COMPATBILITY WITH MONOLITHIC MICROWAVE INTEGRATED CIRCUIT TECHNOLOGY FOR REDUCED SIZE AND COST ARE HIGHLY DESIRABLE. IN THIS PROPOSAL, FOUR DIFFERENT SWITCHING COMPONENTS, SOME CONVENTIONAL, SOME IN THE VERY EARLY STAGES OF EXPERIMENTAL DEVELOPMENT, ARE EXAMINED AND COMPARED. THIS EXAMINATION LED US TO PROPOSE A NEW MONOLITHIC FET CONFIGURATION WITH INCREASED VOLTAGE SWITCHING CAPABILITY. THE PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS INCLUDED IN THIS PROPOSAL SHOWS THAT THIS CONFIGURATION CAN BE USED TO MONOLITHICALLY IMPLEMENT SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER POWER SIGNAL CONTROL COMPONENTS MEETING MORE OF THE DESIRABLE SPECIFICATIONS DESCRIBED ABOVE THAN ANY OTHER KNOWN COMPONENT. THIS PROPOSAL CONTAINS BACKGROUND INFORMATION AND THE SPECIFIC TASK DESCRIPTIONS REQUIRED FOR THE INITIAL FEASIBILITY STUDY AND THE THEORETICAL GROUNDWORK FOR THE EVENTUAL DEVELOPMENT OF SUCH COMPONENTS.