Circuit and system design for future microwave systems

Microwave systems continue to benefit from technological and system advances that provide for new levels of performance, form factor and lowered cost. In the past, these advances were primarily associated with new materials systems or device types (e.q. GaAs, GaN, InP, MEMS, HBTs, PHEMTs, etc.). Although improvements continue in these and other new areas, system designers are increasingly looking for areas where advances in CMOS digital IC technology can improve the performance of microwave systems. The ability to realize millions of logic gates in an area the size of a bond pad provides the signal processing capability required for highly adaptive microwave systems, which monitor their environment and adapt their matching, tuning, bias, or configuration, to realize the best possible performance. These adaptive microwave systems will rind wide application in areas as diverse as active phased-array radars, wireless local area networks and even the ubiquitous cellular telephone. This paper will summarize the device and signal processing requirements of these new adaptive systems of the future, and highlight some of the research areas required for further development of the field.