Design of DC to 40 GHz GaAs-based MMIC Attenuators by Utilizing Full-chip Numerical Analyses

Authors

  • Mehmet Emin Bayrak Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering Istanbul Medipol University, Istanbul, 34810, Turkey
  • Harun Tekin Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering Istanbul Medipol University, Istanbul, 34810, Turkey
  • Huseyin Serif Savci Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering Istanbul Medipol University, Istanbul, 34810, Turkey https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5881-1557

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.13052/2024.ACES.J.390710

Keywords:

Finite element method, GaAs integrated passive device, Method of Moments, monolithic microwave integrated circuit, wideband attenuator

Abstract

In this study, a numerical analysis-based design methodology of monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) attenuators on a GaAs-based microwave integrated passive device (IPD) technology is presented. The designs have 0 dB, 3 dB, 4 dB, 6 dB, 10 dB, 12 dB, 20 dB, and 30 dB attenuation from DC to 40 GHz. The attenuators are designed for a maximum RF power of 26 dBm and a maximum die area of 0.25 mm2. The circuits are physically compact but electrically large. The finite element method and Method of Moments (MoM)-based analyses are used. The MoM-based solutions show close correlations with the measurements. The measured return losses are better than 20 dB, and insertion loss variation is less than 0.5 dB across the entire band. This paper explains the detailed design steps and numerical electromagnetic setup to achieve first-pass success.

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Author Biographies

Mehmet Emin Bayrak, Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering Istanbul Medipol University, Istanbul, 34810, Turkey

Mehmet Emin Bayrak received his B.S. degrees in both Biomedical Engineering and Electrical & Electronics Engineering as double major in 2019 and 2020, respectively. He graduated with M.S. degree from Electrical Electronics Engineering and Cyber Systems program at Istanbul Medipol University in 2022. His master’s thesis was on passive MMIC devices. Since 2021, he has been working at TUBITAK, BILGEM as a Researcher. His research interests are III-V-based active and passive MMIC design.

Harun Tekin, Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering Istanbul Medipol University, Istanbul, 34810, Turkey

Harun Tekin was born in Istanbul, Turkey, in 1997. He received his B.S. in Electrical & Electronics Engineering from Istanbul Medipol University, Istanbul, Turkey, in 2020. He is currently pursuing an M.S. student in the Electrical Electronics Engineering and Cyber Systems program at Istanbul Medipol University. Since 2022, he has been working as an RF Hardware Design Engineer at NETA Communications. His research topics are the design of passive MMIC, antennas, receiver, and transmitter systems.

Huseyin Serif Savci, Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering Istanbul Medipol University, Istanbul, 34810, Turkey

Huseyin Serif Savci received the B.S. in Electronics & Communication Engineering from Yildiz Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey in 2001 and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, USA, in 2005 and 2008, respectively. From 2008 to 2013, he was with Skyworks Solutions Inc., Cedar Rapids, IA, USA, as a Senior RFIC Design Engineer. Between 2013 and 2020, he worked as a Principal Design Engineer for Hittite Microwave Corporation, Chelmsford, Massachusetts, and Analog Devices Inc., Istanbul, Turkey. Over the years, he designed and released many RFIC and MMIC products on CMOS, SiGe, SOI, GaN, and GaAs technologies. He is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering at Istanbul Medipol University, Istanbul, Turkey. He leads the RFMicroSense Research Group, which focuses on the design and modeling of RF and Microwave Integrated Circuits, devices, systems, and antennas. He is also an Associate Editor for the Applied Computational Electromagnetics Society.

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Published

2024-07-31

How to Cite

[1]
M. E. . Bayrak, H. . Tekin, and H. S. . Savci, “Design of DC to 40 GHz GaAs-based MMIC Attenuators by Utilizing Full-chip Numerical Analyses”, ACES Journal, vol. 39, no. 07, pp. 658–667, Jul. 2024.

Issue

2024: Vol 39 Iss 7

Section

General Submission

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