High Power Ka –
Band PIN Diode Technology
B. Houli-Arbiv, G.
Bunin, J. Kaplun,
A. Cohen-Nov, M.
Leibovitch, B. Revzin
Gal-El (MMIC), POB 330
Ashdod 77102, Israel, email: bilha@is.elta.co.il, +972-8-8577304
Keywords: PIN diode, Breakdown Voltage, Isolation
Abstract
A PIN diode process is
described with over 70 volts breakdown voltage and a series resistance of 1.3 .. The
integrated process includes thin film resistors that enable the design and
realization of Ka-Band, non-reflective high power switches with on-chip
terminations. An advanced top metal lithography is used with critical
dimensions of a few microns for the implementation of fine elements such as
Lange couplers, over a very aggressive topography of 6.5 µm. The process flow enables both micro –
strip and co-planar (CPW) designs. S parameters of shunt micro-strip diodes
were measured from 0 to 50 GHz. Insertion loss for the reverse biased
shunt-diode were 0.2-0.4 dB and isolation over 24 dB at 20 mA forward bias
(Fig. 4,5). The diodes were RF and DC tested at elevated temperatures, under
high current stress. The results of the reliability tests are discussed.