A Novel Course on Microwave Monolithic Integrated Circuit Design, Theory, and Characterization

A novel course conducted for the past three years at the National University of Singapore is described. The course design projects introduce students to microwave monolithic integrated circuit (MMIC) component and subsystem design and expose them to modern computer-aided design (CAD) tools, industry standard test equipment, and procedures. In addition, since the proposed topics are industry-collaborated research projects, students gain new enthusiasm for the circuit design and directly see the importance and relevance in the engineering field. In contrast to the available MMIC courses conducted in the other universities or organizations, these students are given the complete freedom to implement the hardware within a fixed time frame. Implementation of these MMIC circuitries using external foundries, such as United Monolithic Semi-conductor (UMS), Philips Microwave Limeil (PML), and Triquint, has proven to be highly motivational and educational and, eventually, has led to increased enrollments in other higher level electromagnetic and microwave circuit modules.