On the Radiation Tolerance of SiGe HBT and CMOS-Based Phase Shifters for Space-Based, Phased-Array Antenna Systems

Author

Thrivikraman, Tushar K. ; Cheng, Peng ; Phillips, Stanley D. ; Comeau, Jonathan P. ; Morton, Matt A. ; Cressler, John D. ; Papapolymerou, John ; Marshall, Paul W.

Author_Institution

Sch. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Georgia Inst. of Technol., Atlanta, GA

Volume

55

Issue

6

fYear

2008

Firstpage

3246

Lastpage

3252

Abstract

We report the first irradiation results on high-frequency SiGe HBT and CMOS phase shifters for space-based, phased-array antennas used in radar or wireless communication systems. Both phase shifter circuits remain functional with acceptable dc and RF performance up to multi-Mrad proton exposure, and are thus suitable for many orbital applications. In addition, simulation results probing the limits of phase shifter performance in a radiation environment are presented. These results show that both CMOS and SiGe HBT based phase shifters can be used for space-based applications without any specific radiation hardening techniques.

Keywords

CMOS analogue integrated circuits; Ge-Si alloys; MMIC phase shifters; antenna phased arrays; bipolar analogue integrated circuits; field effect MMIC; heterojunction bipolar transistors; microwave antenna arrays; radiation hardening (electronics); CMOS-based phase shifter; HBT-based phase shifter; SiGe; X-band phase shifter; phased-array antenna system; radar communication; radiation tolerance; space-based antenna; wireless communication system; Circuits; Germanium silicon alloys; Heterojunction bipolar transistors; Phase shifters; Protons; Radar antennas; Radio frequency; Silicon germanium; Spaceborne radar; Wireless communication; CMOS; phase-shifters; phased-array; radar; radiation response; silicon-germanium HBT; single-pole double throw switch;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Nuclear Science, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9499

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TNS.2008.2006968

Filename

4723806