APPLICATIONS OF HIGH-TEMPERATURE SUPERCONDUCTORS IN MONOLITHIC MICROWAVE AND MILLIMETER-WAVE GAAS INTEGRATED CIRCUITS

MONOLITHIC MICROWAVE INTEGRATED CIRCUITS (MMICS) ON GAAS ARE IMPORTANT COMPONENTS AND BUILDING BLOCKS IN VITAL NASA MICROWAVE / MM-WAVE SYSTEMS AND OTHER APPLICATIONS. RECENT DISCOVERY OF HIGH-TEMPERATURE SUPERCONDUCTIVITY IN BA-LA-CU-O, Y-BA-CU-O, AND A NUMBER OF TERNARY OXIDES CONTAINING RARE EARTH ELEMENTS, WITH CRITICAL TEMPERATURES ABOVE 90K, PROMISES SIGNIFICANT ADVANCEMENTS IN NUMEROUS ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONIC APPLICATIONS. MICROWAVE MONOLITHICS INCORPORATED PROPOSES THE STUDY AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE APPLICATION OF THESE CERAMIC SUPERCONDUCTING MATERIALS TO MONOLITHIC MICROWAVE AND MM-WAVE INTEGRATED CIRCUITS, LEADING TO BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE AND REVOLUTIONARY CIRCUIT FUNCTIONS. IMMENSE IMPROVEMENT IN PERFORMANCE OF GAAS MMICS IS EXPECTED BY REPLACING METALLIZATION WITH SUPERCONDUCTORS. NEW CIRCUIT FUNCTIONS HERETOFORE NOT POSSIBLE DUE TO FINITE CONDUCTOR RESISTIVITY ARE ANTICIPATED. FOR EXAMPLE, VERY EFFICIENT POWER COMBINING MAY BE ACHIEVED THROUGH VIRTUAL ELIMINATION OF CIRCUIT LOSS, LEADING TO LOWER PRIME POWER REQUIREMENT FOR THE SAME PERFORMANCE, AND HIGHER RF PERFORMANCE IS POSSIBLE USING THE SAME DC POWER SOURCE. VERY COMPACT HIGH PERFORMANCE FILTERS MAY BE REALIZED THROUGH MONOLITHIC INTEGRATION OF SUPERCONDUCTING CIRCUIT ELEMENTS. CRITICAL TEMPERATURES ABOVE THE BOILING POINT OF LIQUID NITROGEN (77K) ASSURE OPERATION WITH PROVEN REFRIGERATION TECHNIQUES. ACTIVE COOLING MAY INDEED NOT BE NECESSARY IN SPACE APPLICATIONS. INCORPORATION OF HIGH-TEMPERATURE SUPERCONDUCTORS INTO MONOLITHIC MICROWAVE AND MM-WAVE INTEGRATED CIRCUITS WILL OPEN UP A NEW ERA OF HIGH PERFORMANCE AND FUNCTION VERSATILITY WHICH WILL GREATLY BENEFIT IMPORTANT NASA SYSTEMS AND OTHER APPLICATIONS. THISPROPOSED TECHNOLOGY MAY ALSO BE APPLICABLE TO THE 1987 NASA SBIR SUBTOPIC NO. 14.01.