Systems engineering of RF system-on-wafer applications in SiGe [radar active electronic steered array example]

For moderate performance radar and communications systems operating at Ku-band and above, the use of entire wafers individually comprised of a lattice of low-power transmit-receive (T/R) modules is an economically attractive alternative to traditional approaches employing microwave tubes or MMICs that are individually packaged. Silicon germanium is presently the technology of choice because it offers the potential of reasonable power levels and performance in the f_T, f_max regime above 200 GHz, together with yields unreachable using III-V compound semiconductors, the ability to integrate RF and logic, and prices approaching those of conventional CMOS. In this paper, we examine systems-level performance for such systems, focusing on an active electronic steered array (AESA) in a Ku-band coherent radar. The dependence of system performance on yield and circuit performance variation is explored.