microwave components : an overview of the trends and ... · 27th october 2005 18th microelectronics...

127th October 2005 18th Microelectronics Workshop

Microwave Components : An overview of the trends and future needs in Europe

18th Microelectronics Workshop

JAXA’s Tsukuba Space Center

Jean-Luc Roux, Luc LapierreCNES Toulouse – France


OUTLINE

Introduction

Trends and needs in RF payload

Current situation for MMIC

Emerging technologies

Assemblies

Conclusion


IntroductionIntroduction

Performances of microwave systems strongly linked to advances in semiconductor technology and to the availability of leading edge active microwave components.

Technology developments very rapid and emerging microwave components are expected to have a major impact on system realisation in the coming years.

Space applications require high reliability maturity of technologies and processes


Context : Long lifetime, commercial pressure, low risk

Current situation : L (nav), C and Ku bands• SSPAs used up to C band, TWTA beyond

Trends for the future Satcom• Growing use of Ka band frequencies (30/20 GHz) to overcome the Ku band

congestion and to make available broadband solutions. Advanced studies for telecom payloads beyond Ka band (Q/V). Higher data rate.

• Increase of capacity in terms of equivalent analog channels• Introduce satellites with increased flexibility

– to modify in orbit the coverage, channelization, beam and channel allocation, polarization,…

• Reduce the cost of the bandwidth (multi-spot beam coverage)• Growing integration of all satellite subsystems and power requirements minimization.

Telecommunication & navigation

Trends and needs in RF payloadsTrends and needs in RF payloads

The key equipment : Flexible antenna, flexible repeater


L, C, Ku, Ka multi-beam antenna

Direct Radiating Array solution can involve hundreds of modules

Reduce module size to find compatibility with high frequency array mesh size

Decrease DC consumption to reduce thermal management constraints

Reduce MMIC and assembly costs


Flexible antennas

Ku active antenna (Stentor)


2

9

3

84

7

51

6 10 19

11

12 17

18

13

16

14

15

20 29

21

22

27

28

23

24

25

30

39

31

32

37

38

34

35

4026

3633

Typical pan European coverage. 60 active channels Up to 20Gbit/s IP level.

Example of a Ka band high capacity spacecraft over Europe


Reduce the cost of the bandwidth

Use multiple narrow spot beams and extensive frequency re-use


Onboard Processing


• Integrated architectures combining DSP, multi million gates digital ASICs, FPGA and high speed low power AD converters

LNAs Down Conv Up converters

On Board Digital

Processing

HPAs/ TWTAsCAMPs


Context : Shorter lifetime, higher risk, leading edge technical and scientific performances.

From GHz to THz

• Improve Noise Figure • Increase frequency capabilities (radiometers)• Cooled receivers• SAR with hundreds of T/R modules

Earth Observation / Space sciences


Megha-Tropiques

Envisat (ESA)


10 GHz 100 GHz

10 W

1 W

0.1 W

0.01 W

HFET 0.5 µm

MESFET 0.5 µm PHEMT 0.25 µm

PHEMT0.15 µm

GaAs HBT

PPHEMT0.15

Current situation for MMICCurrent situation for MMIC

MMIC Technologies currently used

PPHEMT 0.25


Main Microwave Foundries in Europe


GaAs based technologies

Si based technologies

HEMT, InP HBT

SiGe BiCMOS

MESFET, HEMT, GaAs HBT

pHEMT

MESFET, pHEMT

SiGe Bipolar

SiGe BiCMOS

SiGe BiCMOS

RF CMOS, SiGe BiCMOS


Space evaluation Example of HB20P

RIC : Power amplifier 37 dBm / 10 GHz (design THALES/UMS)

TCV DEC

20TCVMicrowave HBT

Tj=300°C

20TCVMicrowave HBT

Tj=275°C

Storage A1 A2

10TCVVbe=0V, Vce=10VPassives at max

Tj=200°C

10TCVVce=7V

Jce=66kA/cm²Tj=286°C

DC life-test B1 B2 B3

10TCVVce=7V

Jce=66kA/cm²Tj=255°C

10DECVce=8V

Jce=15 to 75kA/cm²Ta=25°C

10DECVce=8V to 12VJce=33kA/cm²

Ta=25°C

DC step stress C1 C2

4DECVce=10V

Jce=33kA/cm²(Imax)Ta=25°C

4DECVce=8V

Jce=60kA/cm²Ta=25°C

RF step stress D1 D2

20RICTj=236°CVCE=8V

Jce=33kA/cm²

DC life-test E

3RICConstruction

analysis

F ConstructionF

10 TCVHeavy ions

Radiation G

3 RIC

H ESD

2 wafers TCV and microwace HBT2000h or 50% of failure

2000 h

5 current steps of 15kA/cm²9 voltage steps of 0.5Vstep duration: 168h

RF power: 0 / 1 / 3 5 / 7dB gaincompressionStep duration 168h

4000h



HP0

7 (0

.7 M

ES

FET)

PowerPower Low Noise & MillimeterLow Noise & Millimeter OtherOtherD

02A

H (0

.2 p

HE

MT)

PH25

(0.2

5 pH

EM

T)

PPH

25 (0

,25

pHE

MT)

HB

20P

(HB

T)

E01M

H(.1

MH

EM

T)

PPH

15 (0

.15

pHE

MT)

HB

20S

(HB

T)

D01

MH

(0.1

MH

EM

T)

HB

20M

(HB

T D

igit/

ana)

ESCC Evaluated

OK for flight

ED02

AH

(0.2

pH

EM

T)

PH15

(0.1

5 pH

EM

T)

D01

PH (0

.1 p

HE

MT)

PPH

25x

(0.2

5 pH

EM

T)

DH

15IB

(DH

BT

InP

)

PPH

15x

(.15

pHE

MT)

BES

-50

(dio

des)

Commercialised

PPH

10(0

.1 p

HE

MT)

MH

10(0

.1 M

HE

MT)

Advanced Development

UMS OMMIC


Status of European MMIC processes


10 1001 Freq (GHz) L

ow N

oise

&

Mill

imet

erPo

wer

Other

PH25(E)D02AH

PH15(E)D01AH

MH10D01MHE01MH

(E)D007iHHP07

PPH25

PPH15PPH15x

D01PHD007iHHB20SHB20P

GaN HEMTHB20M

L S C X Ku K Ka Q V W

Space Evaluated

OK for flight

Commercial

Industrialisation

Development

Research

DH15IB

PPH25X

PPH10

BES-50


MMIC processes vs frequency range


• European available processes are still to be improved to get a better power capability• Current work on High Power InGaP/GaAs HBT and on 0,25 pHEMT processes with UMS• More compact layouts


Courtesy of UMS

26-34 GHz HPA (1W)7.7 mm² 2.2 mm²

Courtesy of UMS

Thermal management

10W / X band in HBT20 mm² (Courtesy of UMS)

GaN HEMT device

Technology improvement in Power MMIC


• European GaAs foundries demonstrated very good performances from C to Ka frequency band for on board applications.

• Short term needs concerning NF target are well fulfilled and GaAs pHEMT / mHEMT will remain the best solution for some years for telecom applications.

• Applications up to W band are also achievable with mHEMT (OMMIC, IAF)

3 stage LNA Ka Band (OMMIC)

27-32 GHz : Gain = 27 dB, NF < 1,2 dB


Technology improvement in low noise MMIC


Multifunction integration• LNA• Mixers• Combiners• IF Amplifiers• Multiplier

Synth. PLL on a chipDown Conv

TCX0

x N

PLL

Synthesizer

x M

• Reduce the number of components via the introduction of integrated multifunction chip (GaAs, SiGe).


Technology improvement in low level functions


Advantages:• High Power Density from 3 to 10 W/mm (even 32W/mm @ 4 GHz and Vds = 120V) compared to 1W/mm with classical GaAstechnology•High Voltage operation

•Very high breakdown voltagesOutput impedance closer to 50 Ω Simplified output matching network, less losses• Simplied DC/DC converters (bus voltage 50 to 100V)

•High temperature operation• Excellent thermal conductivity of SiC• Natural operation at high junction temperature (200°C)

• Stable and inert material (improved immunity to radiations)Challenges:• Material quality issues• Industrial source in Europe• Thermal management

Emerging technologiesEmerging technologies

Si GaAs SiC GaN Diamond

Band gap (eV) 1.1 1.4 3.2 3.4 5.6

Breakdown Field (MV/cm)

0.3 0.4 2.4 3.3 5

Electron sat. velocity (107 cm/s)

1.0 2 2 2.7 2.7

Max. operating temperature (°C)

< 200 < 300 > 500 > 500 > 800

Thermal Cond. (W/cm.K)

1.5 0.54 4 1.3 20-30

A factor of 20 improvement using GaN instead of GaAs

The key component for power is the AlGaN/GaN HEMT on SiC

Wide Band-gap - GaN



Bench marking of GaN power devices

0,1

1

10

100

1000

1 10 100Frequency (GHz)

Pow

er (W

)CreeEudynaMelcoNECOthersFBHIAFQinetiq

Europe World wide


Courtesy of Fraunhofer IAF

X-band two-stage high-power amplifier in AlGaN/GaN HEMT technology (lg = 300 nm). Measured data at 11 GHz: linear gain 18 dB, saturated output power 7.3 W at Vds = 18 V.

Ka-band two-stage high power amplifier in AlGaN/GaN HEMT technology ( lg = 150 nm). Measured data at 18 GHz: linear gain 12 dB, saturated output power 1.8 W at Vds = 21 V.

30GHz, 2W achieved


GaN MMIC


Other GaN devices potential applications

Switches, mixersPower sources

Robust low-level amplifiers in front end for Telecom and Observation (T/R modules) applications (high input power and overdrive). Removal of the input limiter which degrades the noise performances.

LNA Limiter

HPADA

Core Processor

RX

COM

Tx

T/R Module (SAR)

Telecom Repeater

GaN MMIC

LNAHPA

Parameter GaAs pHEMT

InP HEMT

GaN HEMT

Minimum NF @10 GHz (dB) ~ 0.4 < 0.3 ~ 0.5

Associated Gain (dB) 14 18 15

Breakdown Voltage (V) ~ 8 ~ 3.5 100

LNA Figure of Merit 183 206 2818



Advantages:• Potentially low cost (using Si manufacturing lines)• SiGe HBT unbeatable for low phase noise (-10dB/Hz)• Low DC consumption (-50%)• Possibility of mixing microwave and digital IC’s• High integration level

Applications:• RF mixed signal • Frequency generation, VCO (SiGe)• IF amplifier chain

Challenges:• Access to foundries, rather volume-oriented• Radiation hardness• Very low voltage breakdown


PLL in BiCMOS7 (ST)

Si based technologies



RF CMOS

65 nm n-MOSFET show very good microwave performances : cut off frequency (ft) ≈ 200 GHz, low noise and high gain (NFmin = 0.8 dB and Gass= 17.3 dB at 12 GHz).

High resistivity substrates (SOI) are needed for low loss passives

The next generation (45 nm) might exhibit ft ≈ 250 GHz

65 nm n-MOSFET

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

0 50 100 150 200 250

Lpoly (nm)

ft, fm

ax (G

Hz) f max ft

State of the art ft and fmax for SOI n-MOSFET

Courtesy of IEMN and ST


Shorter gate length


30 GHz 4x15 µm MM-HEMT 70nm

0

0,5

1

1,5

2

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500Ids (mA/mm)

NFm

in (d

B)

0

5

10

15

Gas

s (d

B)NF = 0.55dB / Ga = 12.6 dB @30 GHz

Ft = 300 GHzD007iH metamorphic 70 nm, 70% In content (OMMIC)

Advanced low noise & mm-wave devices



InSb based devices

0.010.10.40.63.50.6Breakdown field (MV/cm)

0.180.360.721.423.41.12Band-gap(eV)

542.722.51Electron velocity (107 cm/s)

30207.84.61.60.6Electron mobility x 103 (cm²/Vs)

InSbInAsInGaAsGaAsGaNSi

Source : Compound Semiconductor

Zn

Cd

Hg

Ga

In

Ge

Sn

As

Sb

Se

Te

Al Si SP13 14 15 16

3130 32 33 34

48 49 50 51 52

80

III IV V VI

Advantages:• Highest electron mobility• Low power consumption

Applications :• Ultra high speed, very low powerdigital

• low noise amplifier for radiometers (cryogenic temp)

Challenges :• Difficult to growth, very fragile • Low breakdown voltage• Maturity of the technology

InSb quantum well transistor (Qinetiq)


10 GHz 100 GHz

10 W

1 W

0.1 W

0.01 W

100 W

MMIC Technologies


HFET0.5

MESFET 0.5 PHEMT 0.25

PHEMT0.15

mHEMT100 nm

PPHEMT0.15 / 100 nm

GaAs HBT

PPHEMT 0.25

GaN HEMT

<100 nmmHEMT, InSb

SiGe BiCMOSSi RF CMOS


PH25(E)D02AH

PH15ED01AH

MH10D01MHE01MH

(E)D007IHHP07

PPH25PPH25xPPH15

PPH15x

D01PH

HB20SHB20P

GaN HEMTHB20M

Low

Noi

se

& M

illim

etre

Other

Pow

er

Industialisation

Production

Development

Research

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

D007iH

DH15IB

PPH10

Decision point

BES-50


GaN in productionin 2009

Roadmap


1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996

Preliminary phase : foundries open in US and Europe. Space industry start to get informed

Knowledge phase : Foundries selection. Constitute a team of designers, first MMIC designs

Pre-Indus phase : Intensive work on packaging. Start evaluation and qualification works

Industrialization phase : Developement of firstFM equipment with MMIC

A look in the past : MMIC insertion for space

Launch of commercial satellites

(AMOS, Arabsat 2, Telecom 2D)

Decision for FM FM delivery


Source : Alcatel Space


Fixed structures, micro-machined

High Q Inductors

A Technology to miniaturize passive components

Cavity filters; filters on membranes, inductors


Ka band cavity filter (-50 dB rejection obtained in 500MHz frequency band) (IRCOM)

RF MEMS


Mobile structures

Signal GNDGND

Bridge

DielectricSignal GNDGND

Bridge

Dielectric

Tunable capacitors, resonators

Switches exhibit excellent RF properties as low power consumption, high linearity, low loss and high isolation compared to solid state electronic solutions


Capacitive MEMS switch in Off (top) and on (bottom) stage

Tunable capacitor


2 Major issues : Packaging, Reliability

Applications :

• Redundancy switch (LNA) • Low loss Phase-Shifters• Switching Matrices• Reconfigurable RF structures

Challenges :• High actuation voltages • Moisture sensitivity• Power handling• Availability of an industrial source

MEMS Switches


SPDT 50 GHz (BOSCH)


RF MEMS can be integrated into satellite payloadsubsystems to achieve a higher degree of functionality(phase shifting unit, low level routing networks, reflect array antenna, ...)


Redundancy switch in a LNA module(techno. Alcatel and CEA-LETI)


• RF switches in orbit evaluation planned (MEMO experiment)

• RF switch designed by IRCOM • Process and packaging done by CEA-LETI• Equipment designed by Alcatel Alenia Space• Reliability tests done by CNES

MEMS switches under radiation test




Bulk Acoustic Wave devices

Applications :

• FBAR filters for S and C bands • Bulk Acoustic resonators for tunable filters

Advantages:• Low size, integration above IC

Challenges :• Manufacturability (good process control for piezo-layer thickness)

These micro-machined technologies present some commonalities with MEMS. 2 main technologies : Film bulk Acoustic Wave (FBAR) and Solid Mounted Resonators (SMR)

electrodes Piezoelectric film

membraneSi

Fbar-bulk micro-machining

Stand-alone fBAR resonator Above IC fBAR filter

Si waferBiCMOS SiGE wafer

Above IC filter performances (courtesy of ST)


AssemblyAssembly

Higher level of integration is achieved trough the use of :

H-MIC/MMIC highly integrated designsDigital / RF in the same housingLTCC / HTCC with hermetic sealing

Late 80’s Mid 90’s 2000’s

Discrete transistors Digital in a separated housing - 550g

Hybrid MMIC - 210 g

MCM MMIC - 95 g

Example of CAMP evolution (technology Alcatel Space)

From hybrid to MCM


Improve interconnectsAdvantage:•Die attaching and wiring in 1 single operation•Shorter connections, more reproducible•Better thermal management

Challenges:•visual inspection no more possible•Post processing for bump realization•Underfill may be necessary

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36

(GHz)

(dB)

MMIC S21Flip-Chip S21Wire-Bonding S21

Courtesy of UMS

AssemblyAssembly

Flip Chip mounting


Decrease mass and costs

Advantages:

•Drastic mass reduction•Insure protection•Suppress one level of packaging

Challenges:

•Electrical impact (frequency shift)•Transition mastering•Psychological step for customers

BCB / Glob-top coating

AssemblyAssembly

BCB coating over MMIC

Towards non hermetic

LNA module for FAFR (AAS)


• 3D RF applications possible thanks to the development of wide band RF vertical transitions

• Organic dielectric used as intermediate layer between Digital / analog Si chip and MMICs

• Stacking of MMICs and passives in 3D modules

AssemblyAssembly

MMIC above Si IC (Thales)

Increase integration

3D LNA building block module(15 mm x 15 mm x 10 mm)

BFN : 6 spots, 64 radiated elements in Ka bandCourtesy of Alcatel Space

Towards 3D


ConclusionConclusion

Breakthrough expected with GaN technology for power applications in L to Ku (Ka) bandmHEMT, very short gate length transistors are enabling technologies for higher frequency capabilitiesGrowing integration thanks to multifunction on GaAs or Si based technologies (reduce size and cost)For low level functions everything that can be done in Silicon will be done in silicon…providing reasonable access cost is offered.RF MEMS still in a state of early development. Concept and feasibility are proven... technology and reliability need to be further improved !Evolution towards highly integrated assembly solutions will continue (3D) Thermal management is a key issue.

Acknowledgements : The authors wish to thank the Microwave CTB members for their contribution to the information

microwave components : an overview of the trends and ... · 27th october 2005 18th microelectronics...

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