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Electrical and Computer Engineering

High Frequency Devices
^ 38-GHz Ion Implantation GaAs MESFET Technology Transfer Program
M. Feng,* J. Middleton, S. K. Hsia
Northrop Grumman Corp.; M/A-Com/Amp

This project is aimed at the technology transfer of the University of Illinois 0.25 μm gate GaAs MESFET for 24-GHz and 38-GHz MMICs for LNA and VCO to M/A-Com. for low-cost production.

^ 50-GHz Ion Implanted GaAs MESFET
M. Feng,* H. Hsia, Z. Tang, D. Beecher
TriQuint Semiconductor

This program is to study the 50 GHz to 100 GHz ion implanted GaAs MESFET for millimeter-wave integrated circuit application.

^ 50-GHz Ion-implanted Enhanced/Depletion/Power GaAs MESFETs
M. Feng,* H. Hsia, D. Becher, Z. Tang, J. J. Hwang, S. Shen
Network Device Inc.

This project is to develop enhancement mode, depletion mode, and power mode (E/D/P) GaAs MESFETs operated at 50 GHz.

^ 50-GHz Self-aligned Gate MESFETs
M. Feng,* D. Becher, D. Caruth
Vitesse Semiconductor Corp.

We have investigate Vitesse self-aligned gate MESFET for the analog applications in term of noise gain and power. We have compare performance with the University of Illinois re-aligned gate FET with Vitesse and to understand device improvement issues.

^ ADC Circuit Design on a Sigma-Delta Modulator
M. Feng,* M. Heins, D. Barlage
U.S. Army Research Office, DAAH04-96-0218 (Intel Fellowship)

This project is aimed at design of 3 Gbit/s for an 8-bit ADC. Our first goal is to design the subcircuits library of comparator, sample, and hold circuit and OA design of an ADC.

^ AlGaAs/GaAs HBT Modeling
M. Feng,* P. Mares, M. Hein
Rockwell Microelectronics, Inc.

This project aims to establish a useful SPICE model for HBT integrated circuits application. Our approach is based on 45-MHz to 50-GHz bias-dependent microwave data collection on an HBT device using HP-ICCAP. Temperature-dependent microwave data collection will be included in the model.

^ CAD Design Tools for an Integrated Millimeter-Wave Wireless Communication Microsystem
M. Feng,* S. C. Shen, J. J. Hwang, M. Heins, in collaboration with C. Liu
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, F30602-97-2-0328

We are developing CAD capabilities for a gigahertz wireless communication and distribution microsystems. We are also developing scalable MMIC modules with integrated MEMS components.

^ Digital Radar Receiver
M. Feng,* J. Fendrich
Mayo Foundation; Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency

This project performs the design and fabrication of an RF front end (400-700 MHz) fully tunable receiver system. We are working closely with the Mayo Foundation MIT-Lincoln Lab and DARPA to build two brassboard RF receiver front ends for digital radar applications.

^ Direct Ion Implantation GaAs MESFETs
M. Feng,* H. Hsia, Z. Tang, D. Becher, S. Shen
GaAstronics Co.

This project is to develop low-cost ion-implanted GaAs MESFETs for 5.8-GHz MMICs.

^ GaAs- and InP-based HBT Reliability
M. Feng,* G. E. Stillman,* D. Barlage, M. Heins
U.S. Army Research Office, DAAH04-94-0369

This project is to set up an HBT reliability test. HBT reliability has become a major issue because of heterostructure interface and fast diffuse p-type impurities in both InP- and GaAs-based HBTs. We will test HBT devices from Rockwell, Hughes, and TRW for the basic failure mechanism.

^ GaN HBT Technology
M. Feng,* G. E. Stillman,* J. J. Huang
U.S. Navy, UTA 99-0302

GaN has great potential to be a power source in millimeter wave ICs and high-speed electronics due to its large breakdown voltage and higher saturation velocity. In collaborate with Professor Dupuis at the University of Texas at Austin, we have fabricated GaN HBT with beta >100. There are many problems to be solved in terms of current and power efficiency issues at millimeter wave frequency.

^ High-Frequency Measurement Project on High-Tc Superconductor
M. Feng,* J. Fendrich, H. S. K. Hsia
National Science Foundation, DMR 89-20539

(In conjunction with the Science and Technology Center for Superconductivity)

This project has contributed to the study of BKBO and YBCO film characterization at microwave and terahertz frequencies. A parallel-plate resonator (10 GHz) was built to characterize sheet resistance in the microwave frequency. A noncontact coherent time-domain spectroscopy (THz) was used to characterize real and imaginary parts of conductivity. An on-wafer cryogenic microwave probing technique (1-40 GHz, 15-300K) is employed to establish patterned film scattering parameter. This work also aims to development engineering model parameters using a GHz on-wafer probe technique.

^ Hybrid and Monolithic OEIC Receivers
M. Feng,* J. Mu, J. Middleton
DARPA Center for Optoelectronics Science and Technology

This project is aimed at hybrid integration of a PIN/GaAs transimpedance amplifier at 20 GHz operation. The monolithic IC is involved in design and fabrication of 4-channel OEIC receivers using GaAs MESFET technology.

^ InGaAs/InP BiFET for ADC Applications
M. Feng,* D. W. Seo, J. Mu, H. Hsia, Z. Tang, M. Heins
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, N66001-97-C-8618

(In collaboration with G. E. Stillman's group)

We have developed a 200-GHz InGaAs/InP HFET and integrated it with a 200-GHz HBT. Using this technology, we will construct a fifth-order Sigma-Delta ADC for a 16-bit and 3 FDR > 100 dbc.

^ InGaP HBT for ADC Applications
M. Feng,* D. W. Seo, J. Mu, M. Heins
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, N66001-96-C-8615

(In collaboration with G. E. Stillman's group)

We are developing an InGaP HBT device model (thermal and electrical model) for implantation into MDS and HSPICs. The second-order Sigma-Delta ADCs with 5 Gbits and 8-bit resolution has been designed, simulated, and fabricated.

^ Intelligent Vehicle Highway System Chip Sets (II) (IVHS)
M. Feng,* R. Shimon, D. A. Caruth, J. Middleton, H. Hsia
Northrop Grumman Corp.

This project is a follow-up of the TRP/DARPA contract based on the success of the University of Illinois 24-GHz and 38-GHz GaAs MESFET MMIC for LNA and VCO. The new contract is aimed at low-cost implementation of a 0.1 μm gate GaAs MESFET and MMIC by direct ion implantation for 77-GHz LNA and VCO collision avoidance radar.

^ Intelligent Vehicle Highway System Chip Sets (IVHS)
M. Feng,* J. Kruse, P. Apostolakis, J. Middleton, D. Scherrer, R. Shimon
Northrop Grumman Corp.

This project is a joint development effort between the University of Illinois and Northrop on millimeter-wave IC chip sets for IVHS. We will design transmitter, receiver, mixer, and oscillator millimeter-wave ICs using co-planar technology. The mask and fabrication will use UIUC ion implanted, super-low-noise GaAs MESFETs, and a monolithic IC process.

^ Mechanically Conformal and Electronically Reconfigurable Aperture (RECAP) Using Low-Voltage MEMS and Flexible Membrane for Space-based Radar Applications
M. Feng,* J. Bernhard,* E. Michielssen,* C. Liu,* S. C. Shen, D. Becher
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, F33615-99-C-1519

We will integrated wide-band reconfigurable aperture arrays with wide-band T/R functions on a flexible/rollable substrate in the 2-20 GHz range. We will investigate three reconfigurable arrays approaches (cavity-backed slot arrays, log periodic array, and coil based spiral array) and develop a low-voltage MEMS switch suitable for integration on a flexible substrate.

^ Millimeter-Wave ICs and Packages
M. Feng,* R. Shimon, D. Caruth
Georgia Institute of Technology, NSF Package Research Center

This project is to develop 38-GHz and 77-GHz coplanar MMICs for flip chip packages.

^ Millimeter Wave Technology HBT and HFET
M. Feng,* G. E. Stillman
Sumitomo Chemical America, Inc.

We will design and fabricate MOCVD-grown, doped channel HFETs and InGaP and AlGaAs HBTs. We will characterize these devices and optimize their performance for 24- to 77-GHz applications.

^ MOCVD HEMT Technology
M. Feng,* Z. Tang
Sumitomo Chemical America, Inc.

We will investigate the performance of MOCVD grown P-HEMT and HEMT technology and its performance comparison between MESFETs and MBE-grown HEMTs.

^ Modeling of Flip Chip Interconnects for RF/Wireless
M. Feng,* R. Shimon, J. Schutt-Aine
Georgia Institute of Technology, NSF ERC Package Research Center SBC GIT E21-N50-G5

The next generation of wireless personal communication links and wireless LAN and WAN will be focused in the millimeter wave range due to wide bandwidths and less interference effects. This work is to develop a low-cost solution of millimeter-wave MMICs flip chip technology. This work will provide the design, simulation, and process of MMICs operating at 38 GHz for a real application in point-to-point communication links. The Georgia Tech PRC will provide the flip chip package technology.

^ Monolithic Millimeter-Wave Integrated Circuits Technology
M. Feng,* R. Shimon
Northrop Grumman Corp.

This project is a joint effort with Northrop for developing 0.25 μm gate and 0.1 μm gate GaAs FET-based technology for the application in monolithic millimeter wave ICs (MMWICs). Based on the high-frequency device characterization, an equivalent circuit model will be generated. This model will then be used for MMWIC design. The fabrication of the MMWICs will be demonstrated.

^ Noise Characterization of Self-Aligned Gate GaAs MESFETs
M. Feng,* D. Scherrer
ITT Corp.

This project aims to reduce the minimum noise figure on the direct ion-implanted self-aligned GaAs MESFETs based on the design of experiments in terms of dose and gate overlay.

^ Novel Giga Sampling Analog-to-Digital Conversion for Direct Digital Receiver
M. Feng,* D.W. Seo, A. Weil
National Science Foundation, ECS-9979341

We proposed novel GHz ADC architecture, the folding and interpolation-based 15-bit subrange A/D converter, will reduce the transistor count by one-third and the area by 60%. The subrange ADC requires a very precise and wide-band track and hold amplifier to maximize input bandwidth to great than 2 GHz and converter resolution to greater than 15 bits.

^ VCSEL and Smart Pixels for VLSI Photonics
M. Feng,* G. E. Stillman, N. Holonyak, Jr., K. Y. Cheng, K. C. Hsia
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, DAAG55-98-1-0303

This project is to develop oxide confined VCSELs at 85 nm and 1330 nm, as well as smart pixels for VSLI photonics.

^ YBCO Superconducting Transmission Line Characterization
M. Feng,* J. Fendrich
Superconductor Technology Inc.

This project studies the design rule of MCM using a superconductor as an interconnect line. Loss and phase delay are compared between gold and the superconductor line. Bit-error-rate and crosstalk will also be examined.

^ Low-Cost, Fully Monolitic, RF Integrated Circuits for Wireless Applications
J. Schutt-Aine,* M. Feng,* D. Caruth, J. J. Huang
National Science Foundation, ECS-9979292

The performance of RF integrated circuits will strongly influence the versatility and portability of future wireless communication systems. This program allows us to integrate MEMS with monolithic millimeter-wave integrated circuits MMICs to provide next-generation wireless system.


Summary of Engineering Research