Multi-chip modules for analog and microwave: DC to 18 GHz

Multichip modules are considered, with particular emphasis on the implementation of devices in the high density interconnect (HDI) process. A digital 128*128 GaAs crossbar switch in HDI that operates at 400 MHz is considered. Results of measurements on a 3.6-cm-long by 243- mu m-wide microstrip transmission line demonstrate that -1.3-dB insertion and -30-dB return loss can be achieved for frequencies up to 18 GHz with HDI technology. Also considered is a C-band 6-GHz transmit/receive (T/R) HDI module that uses impedance-matched interconnects, exhibits no out-of-band oscillations, and results in a 40% size reduction compared to a conventional chip-and-wire counter-part using the same monolithic microwave integrated circuits. In addition, HDI´s unique features allowed the construction of an 82-component voice processor/modem. It is pointed out that preliminary work shows the feasibility of a 10-A 50-W point-of-load 50-V-to-5-V DC-to-DC power supply for distributed applications.<>