Advances in Microwave & Millimeter-wave Integrated Circuits

This tutorial paper reports on the state-of-the-art of Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuits (MMIC) technology. The paper gives an overview of available MMIC semiconductor materials, devices, processes and outlines the steps of a typical MMIC manufacturing process followed by a description of the different technologies used in MMIC assembly and packaging. MMIC design guidelines regarding performance and cost are also presented. A recent literature survey of MMICs used for wireless, microwave and millimeter-wave applications is shown to emphasize the merits of different MMlC technologies. Several examples of novel devices and design techniques are presented and the paper concludes with future trends in this field.