MMIC Amplifiers and Wafer Probes for 350 to 500 GHz

Amplifiers like these are needed for submillimeter-wavelength imagers and scientific instruments.

Several different experimental monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) amplifiers have been designed to operate in frequency bands ranging from 350 to 500 GHz and were undergoing fabrication at the time of reporting the information for this article. Probes for on-wafer measurement of electrical parameters [principally, the standard scattering parameters (“S” parameters)] of these amplifiers have been built and tested as essential components of systems to be used in quantifying the performances of the amplifiers. These accomplishments are intermediate products of a continuing effort to develop solid-state electronic amplifiers capable of producing gain at ever-higher frequencies, now envisioned to range up to 800 GHz. Such amplifiers are needed for further development of compact, portable imaging systems and scientific instruments for a variety of potential applications that include detection of hidden weapons, measuring winds, and measuring atmospheric concentrations of certain molecular species.