New results using membrane-supported circuits: A Ka-band power amplifier and survivability testing Academic Article

abstract

• This paper describes recent results which pertain to the integration and reliability testing of micromachined, membrane-supported transmission line circuits. These circuits employ a 1.4-/spl mu/m-thick dielectric membrane to support thin-film conducting lines above an air substrate. With regard to integration, the development of a Ka-band solid state power amplifier (SSPA) is presented. The design includes a membrane-supported Wilkinson power divider/combiner with 0.2 dB loss, along with a commercially available monolithic microwave/millimeter wave integrated circuit (MMIC) amplifier stage. Also reported are tests which investigated the survivability of membrane lines under space qualification conditions. No failures occurred as a result of thermal cycling and vibration testing at levels which reached 39.6 grms.

authors

• Katehi, Linda

published proceedings

• IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES

author list (cited authors)

• Weller, T. M., Katehi, L., Herman, M. I., Wamhof, P. D., Lee, K., Kolawa, E. A., & Tai, B. H.

citation count

• 6

publication date

• September 1996

publisher

• Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)  Publisher

keywords

• 51 Physical Sciences
• 5103 Classical Physics

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

• 10.1109/22.536614

start page

• 1603

end page

• 1606

volume

• 44

issue

• 9

URL

• http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/22.536614