IEEE MICROWAVE MAGAZINE MICROWAVES IN CHINA VOLUME 22 • NUMBER 4 • APRIL 2021

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In Volume 1, Issue 2 of our new Open Access journal, we are continuing our special
series articles including: Microwave Pioneers – this issue on RF-over-wireless
entrepreneur and scientist, Professor Kam Lau, “Waves Meet Photons,” and our
Microwaves are Everywhere feature with an enjoyable diversion, “Ovens: from
Magnetrons to Metamaterials.” We are also introducing a new continuing series,
Breakthroughs in Microwaves, with a special article titled, “Increasing Signal Strength
in Swarms of Wireless Sensors - An Interview with Aydin Babakhani.”
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Millimeter- and Sub-Millimeter-Wave Limb Sounding, Microwave Metrology, Non-
Lethal Microwave Weapons, Microwave Sensing for Health Monitoring, Human Body
Coupling of 5G, Innovations in Millimeter-Wave Integrated Circuit Packaging, THz
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Microwave Magazine and MTT Society Officers
Editor
Robert H. Caverly, Villanova University,
Pennsylvania, USA, [email protected]
Assistant Editor
Sharri Shaw, JWM Consulting LLC, USA,
[email protected]
Associate Editors
Nuño Borges Carvalho, University of Aveiro,
Portugal, [email protected] Volume 22 • Number 4 • April 2021 • ISSN 1527-3342
Simone Bastioli, RS Microwave, New Jersey,
USA, [email protected]
Chia-Chan Chang, National Chung-Cheng
University, Taiwan, [email protected]
Ali Darwish, American University in Cairo,
Egypt, [email protected]
Christian Fager, Chalmers University of Technology, features
Sweden, [email protected]
Jianguo Ma, Guangdong University of
Technology, China, [email protected]
Alfy Riddle, Quanergy Systems, Inc., Sunnyvale,
18 A Review of Microwave Vacuum
California, USA, [email protected] Devices in China
Luca Roselli, University of Perugia, Italy,
[email protected]; [email protected] Theory and Device Development Including High-Power
Kamal Samanta, Sony Europe, U.K., Klystrons, Spaceborne TWTs, and Gyro-TWTs
[email protected]
Jirun Luo, Jinjun Feng, and Yubin Gong
Almudena Suarez, University of Cantabria,
Spain, [email protected]
Anding Zhu, University College Dublin,
Ireland, [email protected] 34 Research on GaN-Based RF Devices
Columns and Departments High-Frequency Gate Structure Design, Submicrometer-Length
MicroBusiness
Fred Schindler, Newtonville, Massachusetts, Gate Fabrication, Suppressed SCE, Low Parasitic Resistance,
USA, [email protected] Minimized Current Collapse, and Lower Gate Leakage
Health Matters
James C. Lin, University of Illinois-Chicago, Yue Hao, Xiaohua Ma, Minhan Mi, and Lin-An Yang
Chicago, Illinois, USA, [email protected]
Microwave Surfing
Rajeev Bansal, University of Connecticut,
Storrs, Connecticut, USA, rajeev@engr 49 Recent Progress in SISL
.uconn.edu
Book Reviews
Circuits and Systems
James Chu, Kennesaw State University, Marietta, Review of Passive and Active Circuits Demonstrating
Georgia, USA, [email protected]
Education Corner SISL’s Low Loss and Self-Packaging and Showcasing
Rashaunda Henderson, University of Texas the Merits of Metallic, Shielded, Suspended Lines
Dallas, Texas, USA, [email protected]
Women in Microwaves
Kaixue Ma, Ningning Yan, and Yongqiang Wang
Wenquan Che, Nanjing University of Science
and Technology, China, [email protected]
Membership News
Bela Szendrenyi, Advantest, San Jose, California,
USA, [email protected]
New Products
Ken Mays, The Boeing Company, Washington,
USA, [email protected]
In Memoriam Contributions
Jerry Hausner, USA, [email protected]
Ombuds Officer
Edward C. Niehenke, Niehenke Consulting,
USA, [email protected]
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 columns & departments

6 From the Editor’s Desk

IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society
■ Robert H. Caverly
The IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society (MTT-S) is Welcome to the April Issue!
an organization, within the framework of the IEEE, of members
with principal professional interests in the field of microwave
theory and techniques. All Members of the IEEE are eligible for
membership in the Society. Information about joining the IEEE
10 President’s Column
or the Society is available on the web, http://www.ieee.org/ ■ Gregory Lyons
membership.
We Are MTT
MTT-S AdCom
The Society is managed by an Administrative Committee
(AdCom) consisting of 21 elected members of the Society 12 MicroBusiness
plus additional ex-officio members as provided in the MTT-S
Constitution and Bylaws, which is available on the web,
■ Fred Schindler
http://www.mtt.org. Success and Failure Part 2: The Perils of Success
Officers
President:
President-Elect:
Gregory Lyons
Rashaunda Henderson
13 Health Matters
Secretary: Joseph Bardin ■ James C. Lin
Treasurer: Maurizio Bozzi
New ICEMAN Project Seeks Answers to Fighter
Elected Members
Scott Barker Sherry Hess Pilot Disorientation
Maurizio Bozzi Sridhar Kanamaluru
Nuno Borges Carvalho
Robert H. Caverly
Dietmar Kissinger
Gregory Lyons 16 From the Guest Editor’s Desk
Goutam Chattopadhyay Raafat Mansour ■ Kaixue Ma
Wenquan Che Daniel Pasquet
Terry Cisco Ajay Poddar Microwaves in China
Kamran Ghorbani Jose Rayas-Sanchez
Xun Gong Peter Siegel
Ramesh Gupta Anding Zhu 76 Book/Software Reviews
Rashaunda Henderson ■ Nader Engheta
Ex-Officio Members Survey of Electromagnetic Field and
Immediate Past Presidents: Alaa Abunjaileh* (2020)
Dominique Schreurs* (2018–2019) Wave Interaction With “Surfaces”
Dylan Williams* (2017)
Honorary Life Members* ■ James Chu
(max. three votes): Józef Modelski
John T. Barr IV Bridging the Gap Between Electromagnetic
Tatsuo Itoh Theory and Application
Richard Sparks
Peter Staecker
MTT-S Publications 79 Women in Microwaves
IEEE Trans. Microwave
Theory & Techniques Editor: Jianguo Ma* ■ Ye Han
IEEE Microwave & Wireless Embrace the Change Together: WiM Event
Components Letters Editor: Thomas Zwick*
IEEE Microwave Magazine Editor: Robert H. Caverly at NEMO 2020
IEEE Trans. Terahertz Science &
Technology Editor: Imran Mehdi*
IEEE Journal of Electromagnetics, 81 MTT-S Society News
RF, and Microwaves in Medicine
and Biology Editor: Yongxin Guo ■ Nuño Borges Carvalho and Robert H. Caverly
IEEE Journal on Multiscale and Spotlight on the MTT-S Membership and
Multiphysics Computational
Techniques Editor: Costas Sarris Geographic Activities Committee
IEEE Journal of Microwaves Editor: Peter Siegel
*Indicates voting AdCom ex-officio member
84 MTT-S Ombuds Officer
IEEE Microwave Magazine (ISSN 1527-3342) (IEMMFF) is published 12 times
a year by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. Headquarters: 3 Park
■ Edward C. Niehenke
Avenue, 17th Floor, New York, NY 10016-5997 USA. Responsibility for the contents
rests upon the authors and not upon the IEEE, the Society, or its members. IEEE Service
Center (for orders, subscriptions, address changes): 445 Hoes Lane, Piscataway, NJ 08854. 88 Enigmas, etc.
Telephone: +1 732 981 0060, +1 800 678 4333. Individual copies: IEEE members US$20.00
(first copy only), nonmembers US$37.00 per copy. Subscription rates: Subscriptions for ■ Takashi Ohira
Society members are included with membership dues. Nonmember subscription rates
available upon request. Copyright and reprint permissions: Abstracting is permitted
Quadrature Current
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Welcome to the April Issue!
■ Robert H. Caverly

W
elcome to the April an orientation and summary of
2021 issue of IEEE Mi- each of these technical features.
crowave Magazine. We In addition to the technical
have a packed issue, including a features, we also have a num-
number of features and columns ber of our usual columns. In
you should find interesting. “Health Matters,” Dr. James
My last visit to China was about Lin looks at how the electro-
two years ago, to attend the 2019 magnetic fields-rich environ-
IEEE International Microwave Bio- ment of aircraft flight decks
medical Conference in Nanjing. I affects pilot cognitive perfor-
©SHUTTERSTOCK.COM/PASEVEN

was very surprised at the pace of mance. He also presents the

change I observed since my pre- case for relating some of the
vious visit just a few years prior; origins of pilot performance
the advances in infrastructure degradation to the same mi-
(transportation and architecture, to crowave-induced auditory re-
name just a few) in just those few sponse that is highly suspected
years between visits were truly re- in the Cuba embassy incident,
markable. What did not change was that on “Microwaves in China.” In parallel as he has outlined in several previous
my hosts were very welcoming, both on with the easily seen infrastructure ad- “Health Matters” columns [1], [2].
this visit and as well as my previous one, vances in China, there have also been Our “MicroBusiness” column con-
and willing to go out of their way to en- advances in microwave engineering. tinues the theme of last month’s col-
sure that my visit went well. The guest editor for this issue, Dr. umn about the apparent contradiction
I wanted to briefly mention my vis- Kaixue Ma, has selected three techni- of celebrating failures by taking a look
its to China, as the last visit started a cal features that exemplify the current at the problems success can bring. This
discussion that eventually led to this state of the art in microwave technolo- month’s “MTT-S Society News” column
focus issue of IEEE Microwave Magazine gy in China. These three features cover spotlighting the various IEEE Micro-
work on vacuum electronics and de- wave Theory and Techniques Society
vices, the progress in research on galli- (MTT-S) administrative committees
Robert H. Caverly (rcaverly@villanova um nitride-based devices, and, finally, presents an interview with the chair
.edu) is with Villanova University, Villanova, circuit and design techniques based on of the Member and Geographic Activi-
Pennsylvania, 19085, USA. substrate integrated suspended lines. ties (MGA) Committee, Dr. Nuno Borges
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MMM.2020.3048222 I suggest that you read his “From the Carvalho. Our conversation outlines
Date of current version: 2 March 2021 Guest Editor’s Desk” column first for the various activities, programs, and

6 April 2021
 Microwave transmitters rely on filters to maintain a
desired frequency output, but thermal drift can affect
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Dr. Takashi Conference on Numeri- In just a few months, the 2021 IEEE
Committee helps sup- cal Electromagnetic and MTT-S International Microwave Sym-
port and that provide Ohira continues Multiphysics Modeling posium will begin, and a preview of
benefits to the general with a new and Optimization held the technical and other activities can
MTT-S membership.
“Enigmas, etc.” in Hangzhou, China. be found in this issue, along with our
Also this month, The “MTT-S Ombuds monthly conference calendar describ-
we present two book puzzle related Officer” column details ing the microwave conference scene
reviews for microwave to switching how the various issues for the next six months. Please enjoy
engineers working on
power amplifiers MTT-S members sub- this month’s issue!
antenna designs for mitted during the fall
wireless products and and provides and winter of 2020 have References
applications of surface the solution to been investigated and [1] J. C. Lin, “Microwave signal at the U.S. embas-
sy in Moscow [Health Matters],” IEEE Microw.
electromagnetics. The
last month’s addressed. Dr. Takashi
Mag., vol. 19, no. 2, pp. 20–22, Mar.–Apr. 2018.
“ Wome n i n M ic r o - Ohira continues with
waves” column reports problem.
doi: 10.1109/MMM.2017.2760599.
a new “Enigmas, etc.” [2] J. C. Lin, “Sonic health attacks by pulsed
on the Women in Micro- puzzle related to switch- microwaves in Havana revisited [Health
Matters],” IEEE Microw. Mag., vol. 22, no. 3,
waves event held during this past De- ing power amplifiers and provides the pp. 71–73, Mar. 2021.
cember’s 2020 IEEE MTT-S International solution to last month’s problem.

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8 April 2021
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We Are MTT
■ Gregory Lyons

T
he IEEE Microwave Theory Administrative Committee (Ad -
and Techniques Society Com) col le ag ue s w h o h a d
(MTT-S) selected a tagline worked with the AdCom of
in 2017 after a couple of years of another Society commented
discussion. The tagline (“MHz To on how impressive it was that
THz Community”) adds to the members of the MTT-S AdCom
branding of the MTT-S (Figure 1). seemed to be able to set aside
Our choice is descriptive of their egos to pursue Society busi-
what we do and who we are and ness. Like a family, we do not
now supplements our “magic always agree, but we endeavor to
tee” logo (Figure 2). pursue administrating the Society
What is MTT? Who is MTT? for the common good.
The second question seems more So we are an MTT family.
appropriate to an MTT-S vol- However, the word family is
unteer. Consider the following probably not the greatest choice
sentences: 1) The MTT-S holds for MTT-S branding purposes.
its annual symposium in May or Maybe something close would
June. 2) MTT holds our annual work. In the 2015 time frame, we
symposium in May or June. were committed to finding a
©SHUTTERSTOCK.COM/CIENPIES DESIGN
An MTT-S volunteer would good tagline.
tend to say the second. Although
the first sentence is proper English, it name. MTT is something differ-
seems a bit cold and distant compared ent. We will call MTT a proper mass Gregory Lyons
([email protected]),
to the second. MTT-S is an abbreviation noun, requiring no article (the) out
2021 MTT-S
for the proper name of our Society and front. Then let us explore the ques-
president, is with
drops into a sentence to replace that tion “Who is Lincoln Laboratory,
MTT?” and the Massachusetts
collective iden- Institute of
tity of MTT. Technology, Lexington,
Figure 1. The MTT-S tagline. MTT is very Massachusetts, USA.
Figure 2. The much like a fam-
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MMM.2020.3047749
MTT-S “magic tee” ily. One of our
Date of current version: 2 March 2021 logo. former MTT-S (continued on page 15)

10 April 2021
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Success and Failure Part 2: The Perils of Success
■ Fred Schindler

N
okia was a mobile phone jug-
gernaut from the late 1990s all
the way through 2010. Year
after year, it manufactured between
30 and 40% of all of the mobile phones
in the world. This was at a time when
mobile phone sales grew almost every
year, from just over 100 million to
close to 2 billion annually. Nokia
offered a wide variety of models
with a range of features and capa-
bilities for every budget and taste.

©SHUTTERSTOCK.COM/MANTINOV
It had unmatched product develop-
ment, manufacturing, and supply
chain capabilities. It was built to
maintain its dominance forever.
Apple introduced its first iPhone
in 2007 and sold 2.3 million of them.
Nokia sold 435 million phones that
year. A couple of years earlier, Nokia 46 million. Yet in early 2011, Nokia These problems had been developing
had already developed phones with CEO Stephen Elop wrote his infa- for years, but the company did little to
capabilities similar to those of the mous “burning platform” message to respond. It was seemingly blinded by
iPhone. It had no need to worry about employees, recognizing that the com- its success.
an upstart with a small base of fanati- pany was on a doomed path. Nokia had In last month’s column, I wrote
cal customers. Did it? no products that could compete with about the upside of failure. In this col-
In 2010, Nokia shipped 460 mil- the iPhone or Android user experi- umn, let’s look at its companion, the
lion handsets, and Apple shipped ence, and it couldn’t duplicate Apple’s downside of success. The Nokia story
or Google’s ecosystem. Even worse, is one of many. You probably have
Fred Schindler ([email protected]) on the other end of the market, Nokia examples of your own and may even
consults on management issues in the was having difficulty competing with have had direct experiences.
Boston, Massachusetts, USA, area. a group of new manufacturers that
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MMM.2020.3048209
were able to produce inexpensive,
Date of current version: 2 March 2021 low-end handsets more profitably. (continued on page 17)

12 April 2021
New ICEMAN Project Seeks Answers
to Fighter Pilot Disorientation
■ James C. Lin

I
n August 2020, the U.S. Defense accidents is estimated to be 11–12% of
Advanced Research Projects Agency military aircraft crashes [3], [4].
(DARPA) issued an invitation for The number of SD accidents at
the submission of innovative research night is higher than at daytime. Visual
proposals related to its Impact of illusions at night because of the de-
Cockpit Electro-Magnetics on Aircrew graded visual environment are well
Neurology (ICEMAN) project that documented. During night flights, pi-
could lead to a better understanding of lots sometimes confuse ground lights
this phenomenon. (“Iceman” happens with stars and unlighted areas of the
to be the war name of a fighter pilot Earth as night sky.
played in the movie Top Gun). From 1993 to 2013, SD accounted
In its request for proposal (RFP) for 72 Class A mishaps, 101 deaths,
©SHUTTERSTOCK.COM/SIRTRAVELALOT

[1], DARPA stated that, “Current cock- and 65 aircraft lost in U.S. Air Force
pits are flooded with radio frequency flights [5]. Mishaps are defined as
(RF) noise from on-board emissions, Class A if they result in death or per-
communication links, and navigation manent total disability or destruc-
electronics, including strong electro- tion of aircraft. It is noteworthy that
magnetic (EM) fields from audio head- mishap rates for F-16 fighter/attack
sets and helmet tracking technologies.” aircraft were found to be marginally
The stated objectives are to determine Military pilots often report cogni- h igher t ha n for ot her f ighter/at-
whether the current air combat cockpit tive performance challenges during tack aircraft.
EM environment may impact cognitive flight operations. Many have reported SD may be caused by several hu-
performance and/or physiological sen- experiences with spatial disorientation man factors, such as the visual, ves-
sor performance as well as to quantify (SD), in which the pilot’s perception of tibular, and somatosensory systems
the effects and demonstrate potential aircraft position, motion, altitude, or involved in cognitive performance.
mitigation strategies. attitude does not correspond to reality Aside f rom the potent ial effects
[2]–[5]. SD has posed a significant prob- on cognitive functions and human
lem to military pilots and continues to brainwaves already mentioned in the
be a challenge today. These reports in- DARPA announcement, there may be
James C. Lin ([email protected]) is with the dicate that SD mishaps occur in fighter/ potential responses of a more abrupt
University of Illinois, Chicago, 60607, USA.
attack aircraft at more than five times and distractive nature resulting from
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MMM.2020.3048210 the rate of nonfighter/attack fixed-wing exposure to high-power pulsed RF
Date of current version: 2 March 2021 aircraft. Indeed, the rate of SD-related and microwave radiation.

April 2021 13
 The DARPA RFP mentions that the pulsed microwave-induced responses. (SAR), 23–48  kW/kg] could modify
cockpits are flooded with RF signals The microwave auditory effect has the acoustic startle response [13]. In
from onboard emissions, communi- been implicated in the Cuba sonic at- another investigation, 1.25-GHz mi-
cation links, and navigation electron- tacks on diplomats [7]. However, as crowave pulses averaging 0.96-µs
ics, including strong EM fields from discussed later, the microwave power wide and 35.5–86-kW/kg peak SAR
audio headsets and helmet tracking threshold needed for startle reflex and (66.6–141.8 mJ/kg of absorbed energy)
technologies. It has been hypoth- motor reaction is higher than that re- were reported to modify the startle
esized that the cockpit quired to induce the response in rats [9].
RF and EM fields, es- microwave auditory In summary, the ambient RF–EM
pecially the frequen- It has been effect. Indeed, the mi- field levels in a typical fighter/attack
cies between 9 kHz and hypothesized crowave auditory ef- aircraft’s cockpit are now unclear.
Quantitative surveys and measure-
1  GHz, may influence
cognitive performance,
that the cockpit fect may be the cause
for the startle reaction ments are necessary to allow the prop-
including SD, task satu- RF and EM resulting from a much er assessment of the RF–EM field’s
ration, and mispriori- fields, especially louder microwave- potential effects on pilots’ brain activ-
tization. However, RF induced sound. Thus, ity, neurophysiology, and behavioral
and EM fields in cock-
the frequencies it is plausible that an responses. Noticeably, fighter cockpits
pits are not currently between 9 kHz unexpected, sudden, are subjected to strong impinging RF
monitored; little effort and 1 GHz, and intense auditory and/or microwave radar pulses under
has been made to shield stimulus inside the some operational conditions.
pilots from these fields,
may influence he ad f r om a h ig h- There are two pulsed microwave-
and the potential im- cognitive power rada r cou ld induced auditory responses in hu-
pacts of these fields on performance, elicit a classic acoustic mans and mammals when the head
a pilot’s cognition have startle reflex that can is exposed to high-power microwave
not been assessed.
including cause abrupt changes pulses that could impact a pilot’s
It is reasonable to SD, task i n t h e p i lo t ’s h e a d cognitive performance and response.
a s s u m e t h at f ig ht e r saturation, and position, orientation, Both are related to microwave pulse-
induced acoustic pressure waves in
cockpits are subjected
to strong impinging
misprioritization. or attention.
The startle reflex the head: the microwave auditory ef-
RF and/or microwave and motor reaction be- fect and the acoustically induced star-
radar pulses under some operational haviors are innate responses of mam- tle reflex and motor reaction from a
conditions. Common characteristics mals to an unexpected and sudden sudden, unexpected, intense auditory
of these radar pulses are high peak occurrence, such as an intense audi- stimulus. The startle reaction from a
power (gigawatts), short pulsewidth tory, visual, or somatosensory (tactile) sudden, unexpected auditory stimulus
(microseconds), and fast pulse rise stimulus that interrupts ongoing be- may cause the pilot to experience SD,
time (nanoseconds). Depending on the havior, distracts from attentional func- during which one’s perception of air-
specific materials and designs of the tion, initiates actions, and prepares the craft position, motion, altitude, or atti-
helmets, RF and microwave radiation individual against a potential threat. tude does not correspond to actuality.
could penetrate and reverberate inside Concurrently, it activates a protective Note that this supposition is de-
a pilot’s helmet and head to generate stance to prevent injury and may alert rived from theoretic treatment along
even higher RF and EM fields within the person or animal to instigate eva- with available but limited experi-
the head under these circumstances. sive behaviors [11], [12]. mental evidence. The kinds of con-
The resulting exposure to high- For 1.25-GHz microwave radar pulses firmational studies that would be
power pulsed RF radiation and asso- (10 µs, 80 Hz), the threshold for startle useful are neurophysiological and
ciated microwave energy deposition reflex was found to be 0.29 kJ/kg. The p s yc h o p hy s i c a l i nve s t i g at i o n s
in head tissues may not produce overt microwave energy was associated of pulsed microwave-exposed ani-
tissue heating but can elicit sensi- with a lower than 0.1 °C potential mals, including observations of the
tive biological responses. The prime rise in the bulk tissue temperature in subjects’ behavioral a nd perfor-
examples include microwave pulse- mice [8]. Clearly, the response is not ma nce responses.
induced acoustic pressure waves in associated with microwave-induced
the head (microwave auditory effect) tissue heating. Furthermore, it has References
[6], [7] and the startle reflex and mo- been shown that a single 1.25-GHz [1] “STTR opportunity: Impact of cockpit electro-
magnetics on aircrew neurology (ICEMAN).
tor reaction behaviors observed in microwave pulse (0.8–1  µs) to the
Notice ID HR001120S0019-18.” SAM. Aug. 19,
laboratory animals [8]–[10]. Indeed, h e ad of r at s at 2 2– 4 3   mJ/k g p e r 2020. https://beta.sam.gov/opp/45cf0a26208
there may be similarities among these pulse [peak specific absorption rate f441db092e9a2653bddd6/view#general

14 April 2021
[2] A. Bellenkes, R. Bason, and D. W. Yacavone, vol. 85, no. 9, pp. 919–924, 2014. doi: 10.3357/ [10] S. T. Lu and J. O. DeLorge, “Biological effects
“Spatial disorientation in naval aviation mis- ASEM.3971.2014. of high peak power radiofrequency pulses,”
haps: A review of Class A incidents from 1980 [6] J. C. Lin and Z. W. Wang, “Hearing of micro- in Advances in Electromagnetic Fields in Living
through 1989,” Aviat. Space Environ. Med., vol. wave pulses by humans and animals: Effects, Systems, J. Lin, Ed. New York: Kluwer, 2000,
63, no. 2, pp. 128–131, 1992. mechanism, and thresholds,” Health Phys., pp. 207–264.
[3] Y. Takada, T. Hisada, N. Kuwada, M. Sakai, vol. 92, no. 6, pp. 621–628, 2007. doi: 10.1097/ [11] R. Gómez-Nieto, S. Hormigo, and D. E. López,
and T. Akamatsu, “Survey of severe spatial 01.HP.0000250644.84530.e2. “Prepulse inhibition of the auditory startle
disorientation episodes in Japan Air Self- [7] J. C. Lin, “Strange reports of weapon- reflex assessment as a hallmark of brainstem
Defense Force fighter pilots showing in- ized sound in Cuba,” IEEE Microw. Mag., sensorimotor gating mechanisms,” Brain Sci.,
creased severity in night flight,” Mil. Med., vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 18–19, 2018. doi: 10.1109/ vol. 10, no. 9, pp. 639–654, 2020. doi: 10.3390/
vol. 174, no. 6, pp. 626–630, 2009. doi: 10.7205/ MMM.2017.2765778. brainsci10090639.
MILMED-D-01-6308. [8] D. O. Brown, S. T. Lu, and E. C. Elson, “Char- [12] M. Fleshler, “Adequate acoustic stimulus for
[4] T. J. Lyons, W. Ercoline, K. O’Toole, and K. acteristics of microwave evoked body move- startle reaction in the rat,” J. Comp. Physiol.
Grayson, “Aircraft and related factors in ments in mice,” Bioelectromagnetics, vol. Psychol., vol. 60, no. 2, pp. 200–207, 1965. doi:
crashes involving spatial disorientation: 15 15, no. 2, pp. 143–161, 1994. doi: 10.1002/ 10.1037/h0022318.
years of U.S. Air Force data,” Aviat. Space bem.2250150206. [13] R. L. Seaman and D. A. Beblo, “Modification
Environ. Med., vol. 77, no. 7, pp. 720–723, [9] R. L. Seaman, D. A. Beblo, and T. G. Raslear, of acoustic startle by microwave pulses in the
2006. “Modification of acoustic and tactile startle rat: A preliminary report,” Bioelectromagnetics,
[5] R. J. Poisson and M. E. Miller, “Spatial dis- by single microwave pulses,” Physiol. Behav., vol. 13, no. 4, pp. 323–328, 1992. doi: 10.1002/
orientation mishap trends in the U.S. Air vol. 55, no. 3, pp. 587–595, 1994. doi: 10.1016/ bem.2250130408.
Force 1993—2013,” Aviat. Space Environ. Med., 0031-9384(94)90121-X.

President’s Column (continued from page 10)

MTT Community on Microwave Theory and Techniques system, it can be used to isolate the
Credit goes to Jim Rautio for being (G-MTT) Newsletter was first pub- transmitter and receiver while shar-
the first to suggest “MHz To THz lished on 10 September 1954. Some 15 ing the antenna.
Community” as the MTT-S tagline. years later, the newsletter announced I would like to acknowledge Sherry
Significantly, Jim pointed out to the the G-MTT symbol contest. Numerous Hess and Ramesh Gupta of our AdCom
MTT-S AdCom at our summer meet- entries were received, and the one Market i ng a nd Com mu n icat ions
ing in May 2016 the meanings of the getting the most votes came from Committee for capturing all of the el-
word community: Raymond A. Patrin, with Robert E. ements of our current MTT-S brand-
1) a group of people having a particu- Putre’s magic tee coming in a close ing in detail. The newly released The
lar characteristic in common second [1]. MTT-S Brand–IEEE MTT-S Brand Book
2) a feeling of fellowship with others Ultimately, legal (trademark) con- [3] describes the use of the MTT-S
as a result of sharing common atti- flicts with the IEEE kite logo made brand elements and is consistent with
tudes, interests, and goals. Patrin’s entry unfeasible, and so Putre’s the IEEE branding guidelines.
It was both the second meaning of design was the winning logo. Thus, the The MTT-S is a very active IEEE
community and the fact that MHz To now-famous magic tee motif became Society. I encourage you to visit our
THz can be abbreviated to MTT that the official MTT-S logo, appearing on w e b s i t e , w w w. m t t . o rg , f o r m o re
sealed the deal for our MTT-S tagline. the cover of the newsletter in October information. If you would like to
Thanks, Jim! 1970. Since that time, the logo has taken be involved as a volunteer, fill out
Before the selection of this tag- on great meaning and become a source a contact form at www.mtt.org/
line, quite a few AdCom members re- of pride throughout the Society and connectme, and we will make sure you
sisted having any tagline at all. After among its members. get connected.
all, the MTT-S had existed for more What is a magic tee? It is a 180°
than 6 0 ye a r s w it hout o ne. Ye t, hybrid power divider implemented References
once “MHz To THz Community” using a tuned four-port waveguide, [1] D. Sparks, “The origin of the MTT Society
symbol,” IEEE Microw. Mag., vol. 10, no. 6,
was selected, it was fully embraced originally developed during World
p. 160, Oct. 2009. doi: 10.1109/MMM.2009.
by all AdCom members. The tagline War II and first reported in a publi- 933583.
is indeed compelling. cation by W.A. Tyrrell of Bell Labs [2] W. A. Tyrrell, “Hybrid circuits for micro-
[2]. The magic comes from the way waves,” Proc. IRE, vol. 35, no. 11, pp. 1294–1306,
1947. doi: 10.1109/JRPROC.1947.233572.
History of the MTT-S it prevents signals from propagating [3] https://mtt.org/app/uploads/2020/12/MTT-S
Magic Tee Logo between certain ports under specific -Brand-Guide-2020.pdf
The other part of our MTT-S branding matching conditions. This allows it to
is the magic tee logo. The IEEE Group be used as a duplexer; e.g., in a radar

April 2021 15
Microwaves in China
■ Kaixue Ma

I
n the past few years, China has heating, for example, are discussed
made rapid developments in the in detail.
field of microwaves. This special The second article, “Research
issue of IEEE Microwave Magazine on GaN-Based RF Devices” by
presents three articles on inter- Hao et al., reviews the challeng-
esting topics related to the state es and progress of gallium ni-
of the art of microwave tech- tride (GaN)-based RF devices
nology in China. The articles and focuses on the manufac-
were selected after several turing technologies of high-
rigorous review cycles. electron mobility transistors
The first article, “A Re- (HEMTs), including hetero-
view of Microwave Vac- structure epitaxial growth
uum Devices in China” by and device/circuit process-
Luo et al., introduces the re- ing. The authors first introduce
search progress on microwave the epitaxial growth of AlGaN/
vacuum electronics in China. GaN, InAlN/GaN, and AlN/GaN
The authors discuss the klystron, heterojunction materials and then
traveling wave tube (TWT) micro- present key processes regarding high-
wave power module, magnetron, gyro- frequency gate structure, low-resistance
© SH O
tron, and other devices, ranging from U T T ER S
TOCK .COM /HARV
EPIN
ohmic contact, and short-channel-
the microwave and millimeter-wave effect suppression. A brief introduc-
to terahertz frequencies. tion to progress in GaN monolithic
Significant progress has been development, and manufacturing microwave integrated circuits is giv-
achieved in terms of theoretical meth- technology as well as performance en, and the reliability of RF HEMTs is
ods, simulation techniques, device and lifetime for high-power klystrons, also analyzed.
space-borne TWTs, gyro-TWTs, and The final article, “Recent Progress
low-temperature/large-current-den- in SISL Circuits and Systems” by Ma
Kaixue Ma ([email protected]) is a professor sity cathodes. Benefiting from these et al., introduces a new circuit design
and dean of the School of Microelectronics,
developments and advancements, and implementation technique, called
Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China.
system integration of these devices in the substrate-integrated suspended line
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MMM.2020.3048211 such applications as communications, (SISL), that was first proposed by Ma
Date of current version: 2 March 2021 radar, accelerators, and fusion plasma and then reviews the recent significant

16 April 2021
progress in SISL circuits and systems. using multilayer fabrication. In this ar- Prof. Robert Caverly for giving us
It is demonstrated that SISL preserves ticle, the basic SISL concept and struc- this excellent opportunity to discuss
all of the benefits, such as low loss and ture are reviewed, and published cases research advances in microwaves in
radiation, of traditional waveguide of SISL passive and active circuit de- China. I particularly thank all of the
suspended lines, while overcoming the signs and subsystem implementations authors and reviewers as well as Assis-
drawbacks of size, cost, and weight. are presented. tant Editor Sharri Shaw. Finally, I hope
SISL circuits also have advantages of I would like to sincerely thank IEEE that IEEE Microwave Magazine readers
self-packaging and high integration Microwave Magazine Editor-in-Chief enjoy this special issue.

MicroBusiness (continued from page 12)

A recent example is the Boeing 737 for their upcoming flight. It was to came to light during the investigation.
MAX debacle. A total of 346 people have been the first flight of the Apollo The NASA administrator, however,
died in two crashes before the plane spacecraft, which was designed to had not been informed of them. There
was grounded and Boeing publicly ac- take men to the moon. In the early was organizational hubris. Numer-
knowledged there was a serious prob- 1960s, the United States had embarked ous problems had come up during the
lem. It was a human tragedy. It was a on an aggressive program to put as- string of successes. There had even
business failure. There was an under- tronauts on the moon by the end of been significant failures, some poten-
lying regulatory failure. the decade. President John F. Kennedy tially fatal, but NASA was blind to
Leading up to the introduction of laid out the goal in a speech on 12 Sep- its organizational shortcomings and
the 737 MAX, there had been decades tember 1962. The U.S. space program their impacts.
of ever-decreasing air travel fatality had gotten off to a rocky start, with a After the fire, there was a 20-month
rates. Boeing and Airbus were the two string of spectacular unmanned flight delay in the program. The capsule was
dominant passenger aircraft compa- failures. But by the time of Kennedy’s redesigned, and NASA management
nies, both with excellent safety records. speech, there had been four successful changed its focus to identify and fix
Boeing had come out with upgraded solo manned flights, including one by problems and to create a culture of
737s since the model was introduced Gus Grissom. organizational excellence. In the end,
in 1967. Almost everything about the Once the manned space program the Apollo program was successful,
company, the industry, and the 737 was underway within NASA, there and Neil Armstrong stepped onto the
model was a success story. was a long string of achievements moon on 20 July 1969, meeting John F.
Plenty has been written about the and successes. The Soviet Union also Kennedy’s goal.
737 MAX failure and what led to it. had an aggressive manned space pro- The Apollo program was ultimately
It’s apparent that too many organiza- gram, generally achieving milestones a big success. Not everything went to
tions had been too accustomed to suc- just before the United States did. The plan, most notably Apollo 13, but there
cess. Boeing was overly confident in competition loomed large—it was a were no more fatalities. The manned
its design. Regulators, especially the space race with more than just prestige space program’s goals were met.
U.S. Federal Aviation Administration on the line. With the Apollo program, NASA seemed to have learned how to
(FAA), were overly confident in Boeing. the United States was finally poised to strive for reliability and excellence, at
And everyone else was too confident in take the lead. least until the Challenger space shut-
the FAA and Boeing. After the disaster, there were a num- tle explosion in 1986. That spawned a
We want to be successful. There are ber of investigations. How could this new round of investigations and soul
rewards for being successful. But there have happened when things were go- searching. So did the Columbia shuttle
is a downside to too much success. It ing so well? While there were specific disaster in 2003.
can lead to overconfidence, to hubris. causes for the fire (vulnerable wiring There is peril in too much success;
And therein lies the peril. and a pure-oxygen atmosphere), un- it inevitably seems to lead to failure.
I vividly recall the Apollo 1 di- derlying issues were really to blame. Sustained success is possible, but it
saster on 27 January 1967. Three U.S. There was an arrogance in the agency; can’t last forever. The Roman Empire
astronauts, Gus Grissom, Ed White, the schedule was paramount, and con- ruled for centuries, but even it eventu-
and Roger Chaffee, perished when a cerns were not shared. Documentation ally failed. So we end with a question:
fire started inside their capsule. They of numerous problems with the prime How do we sustain success for as long
were on the launch pad, rehearsing contractor, and with the capsule itself, as possible?

April 2021 17
 ©SHUTTERSTOCK.COM/JDWFOTO
A Review of
Microwave Vacuum
Devices in China
Jirun Luo, Jinjun Feng, and Yubin Gong

L
ately, R&D of microwave vacuum electron dicted, as the development of vacuum electron devices
devices (MVEDs) has played a very impor- faced a serious challenge from solid-state electron de-
tant role in the technologies of broadcasting, vices. However, in solid-state electron devices, the elec-
communication, radar, remote imaging, elec- tron stream is a conduction (ohmic, collisional) current,
tronic countermeasures, materials research, whereas in vacuum electron devices, the current is a con-
deep space exploration, and wave spectroscopy. In the vection (ballistic, collisionless) current. So the vacuum
1970s, this widespread role could not have been pre- is perfect for high-power devices needing high-power

Jirun Luo ([email protected]) is with the Key Laboratory of Science and Technology on High Power Microwave Sources and Technology,
Institute of Electronics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China. Jinjun Feng ([email protected]) is with
Vacuum Electronics National Laboratory, Beijing Vacuum Electronics Research Institute, Beijing, 100016, China.
Yubin Gong ([email protected]) is with Vacuum Electronics National Laboratory, School of Electronic Science and Engineering,
University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 610054, China.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MMM.2020.3047747
Date of current version: 2 March 2021

18 1527-3342/21©2021IEEE April 2021

electron currents, especially because vacuum electron The first wave of development appeared in the
devices are intrinsically superior at handling high power 1960s and 1970s, when work primarily concentrated
or high power density, giving vacuum electronics re- on setting up the technical conditions for microwave
search an edge in high power and high frequency [1]–[5]. electronics research and device development, such as
Depending upon the operating principle of the spe- materials and technologies, which also advanced the
cific MVED, klystrons can generate higher power with development of some devices, such as high-power klys-
higher efficiency for applications in radars and accel- trons, TWTs, magnetrons, and forward-wave amplifi-
erators as well as the plasma heating of nuclear fusion, ers, and formed the foundation for future microwave
while traveling-wave tubes (TWTs) are able to obtain tube development. Competition from solid-state de-
broader bandwidth for use in communication and vices and industry structure adjustment in China
electronic countermeasures. The bandwidth of klys- decreased the scale of the research and production of
trons can be improved using an extended-interaction MVEDs from the end of the 1970s to the end of the 1980s.
klystron (EIK). Alternatively, the operating frequency However, since the early 1990s, research on MVEDs has
of klystrons or EIKs can be raised to the terahertz entered another very good period as economic condi-
frequency range using planar interaction structures, tions have improved, and the requirements of elec-
like dumbbell multigap or ladder multigap cavities, tron system development for MVEDs have constantly
or through the use of a sheet-electron beam gun for increased [6], [7].
increasing the electron beam current to obtain a rela- During this time, research into the theory, simula-
tively high power level. However, planar interaction tion, and development of various devices has received
structures [such as folded waveguides (FWGs) and financial support from government and industry and
staggered double-grating array waveguide slow-wave has principally been performed by BVERI, IECAS,
structures (SWSs)]/sheet-electron beam guns are also UESTC, the San Le Group Ltd., and Guoguang Electric
used to enhance the output power of the TWT in the Co. Ltd. In recent years, the Institute of Applied Elec-
millimeter (mm) and terahertz frequency ranges. tronics at the China Academy of Engineering Physics
To obtain large output power at mm or even shorter has also extended the research field to FWG TWTs and
wavelengths, adding a gyrotron based on the relativis-
tic effect means that the MVED can generate megawatt
output power at mm wavelengths, but problems caused
by high-order mode operations (such as mode competi-
tion, mode conversion, mode stability, and transmission
loss) somewhat limit its applied ranges; this may also be
the reason that conventional MVEDs (planar structure
klystrons and TWTs) are being reinvestigated as ampli-
fication methods at the terahertz frequency range. In
addition, MVED research is being devoted to improv-
ing the emission capability, reliability, and life span of
cathodes, especially for spaceborne TWT applications.
Research is also investigating the use of multibeam
electron guns for increasing beam current and decreas-
ing the volume and weight of the power supply while
obtaining broader bandwidth at a relatively low beam
voltage and output level of klystrons.
In China, research into MVEDs dedicated to de -
veloping magnetrons began in the 1940s at Tsinghua
University. The cooling equipment used in the tested
magnetron is shown in Figure 1. In the 1950s, other the-
oretical and experimental research groups appeared at
Beijing University, Southeast University, and the Uni-
versity of Electronic Science and Technology of China
(UESTC). In addition, other research institutions and
enterprises, such as the Institute of Electronics at the
Chinese Academy of Sciences (IECAS), the Beijing Vac-
uum Electronics Research Institute (BVERI), the San Le Figure 1. The cooling equipment used in the tested
Group Ltd., and Guoguang Electric Co. Ltd, were built magnetron at Tsinghua University in the 1940s. (Photo
at that time. courtesy of Prof. Keqian Zhang.)

April 2021 19
In China, research into MVEDs Single-Beam Klystrons
Single-beam klystrons can be used to generate high
dedicated to developing magnetrons power with the resonant characteristics of a cavity,
began in the 1940s at Tsinghua and the bandwidth can be extended by staggered tun-
University. ing, a low Q value cavity, or a multigap coupled cavity.
Klystrons have been developed for high output power
from several tens of kilowatts (pulse/CW or average)
gyrotrons. In China, the developed devices mainly to more than 110 MW/250 kW (pulse/CW or the aver-
include klystrons, TWTs, magnetrons, and gyrotrons. age), with a bandwidth from 1 to 12% in the frequency
The output power level of these devices is from sev- range of the L-Ku band, and they have been applied
eral tens of milliwatts to more than 110 MW (pulse) or in radar, accelerators, and plasma heating. Table 1
250 kW [continuous wave (CW)/average], ranging from lists the range of the output electric characteristics of
microwave to mm- and terahertz-wave frequencies. typical single-beam klystrons for different frequency
Because research into MVEDs started late in China, bands in China.
device characteristics and manufacturing technologies Some tubes in Table 1 represent advances in the
are not yet state of the art; there is still a gap compared performance of single-beam klystrons, as shown in
with the international level. this section. By combining double-output windows
In this article, we review research work on MVEDs and optimizing the geometric layout of electron gun
in China, including theories, simulations, and experi- electrodes to obtain a moderate voltage gradient, rea-
ments and especially for the activities and results achieved sonable cathode loading, and accurate beam per-
after the 1990s. veance, the pulse power of an S-band klystron was
upgraded to greater than 110 MW from 50 MW, with
Klystrons an efficiency of 45.8% and a gain of 58 dB at a volt-
In this article, four types of klystron are considered: age of 414.7 kV and at a current of 583 A [8]. A band-
single-beam, multibeam, EIK, and sheet-beam klystrons. width of >12% was realized for an S-band klystron (as
presented in Figure 2) at 800 kW of output
power with appropriate loss-loaded stag-
TABLE 1. Typical single-beam klystron specifications.
gered tuning bunching cavities and dou-
Frequency Band L S C X Ku ble-gap cavity-plus-filter output circuits
Pulse power (MW) 1~20 0.5~110 0.25~2 0.025~0.8 0.1~0.15 [9]. A C-band CW 250-kW klystron was
Average power/CW (kW) 2~100 1~200 1~250 0.25~120 0.1~0.15 developed with a beam-transmission rate
Efficiency (%) 30~45 30~54 30~45 30~45 H20
of 99.7% by carefully designing electron
gun and beam-wave interaction to main-
Bandwidth (%) 4~10 5~12 2~6 1 2
tain excellent beam transport characteris-
Gain (dB) 45~50 40~50 40~50 40~50 H40
tics and a proper beam-to-tunnel radial
fill factor [10]. The efficiency of an S-band
klystron with 5.5-MW output power was improved to
54% using the BAC method [11].

Multibeam Klystrons
Larger bandwidth can be obtained using a multibeam
klystron at a lower beam voltage and larger beam cur-
rent. Multibeam klystrons have been developed for
output power from 300/75 W (pulse/CW or average)
to 10 MW/180 kW (pulse/CW or average) and a band-
width from 1 to 12% in the frequency range of the L-Ku
band. Table 2 gives the range of the output electric
characteristics of typical multibeam klystrons for dif-
ferent frequency bands in China.
In recent years, a kind of double-mode absorbing
cavity was invented that can suppress the oscillations
of two 2-r modes with different frequencies in the
double-gap output cavity of the r mode operation, thus
enabling the higher-output-power klystron to stably
Figure 2. The S-band klystron with a bandwidth of >12% [9]. operate with a wider bandwidth at a higher beam

20 April 2021
voltage. And by suppressing the secondary electron
An EIK combines the high gain of
emission in a high-frequency state, the feedback oscil-
lation caused by the secondary electron coupling can klystrons with the wide bandwidth
be eliminated, which improves the frequency spec- of TWTs to shorten the length
trum purity of the output signal. By combining these
of the circuit.
two technical methods to suppress various parasitical
oscillations, the electric characteristics and stability of
the devices with staggered tuning bunching circuits beam-transmission rate of 90% [18]. In addition, 1.5-kW
and double-gap cavity-plus-filter output circuits are pulsed power for a W-band EIK can be reached with
measurably improved. Several typical examples of a −3-dB bandwidth of greater than 1 GHz and a duty
multibeam klystrons are listed in Table 2. For example, cycle of larger than 1%, at a voltage and a current of
a bandwidth of greater than 12% with 120-kW pulse no larger than 20 kV and 1.5 A, respectively [19]. The
power/6-kW average power at a voltage of 17 kV and a theory and numerical analysis of the high-frequency
current of 26 A was realized using pulse period magnet characteristics of the ladder-type multigap resonant cav-
(PPM) signals focused at the S-band, and 1-MW pulse ity is established and discussed by Zhang et al. in [20]
power/45-kW average power can be reached with a using the eigenfunction expansion of field expres-
200-MHz bandwidth and a 42-dB gain at a voltage of sions and the field-matching method at boundary,
35 kV and a current of 72 A [12]. A 400-MHz bandwidth including eigenmode field/dispersion, characteristic
with 30-kW pulse power/larger than 2-kW average impedance, intrinsic quality factor, and optimization
power was achieved at a voltage of 13 kV and a current of the mode of separation to ensure the stability of the
of 10 A for a C-band tube [13]. device’s operation.
Another example is that, by combining six-beam
coaxial cavities for lowering the beam voltage and a Sheet-Beam Klystrons
multiple-lens magnet field focus for reducing radial Sheet-beam klystrons are typically used to gener-
expansion with a second-harmonic cavity for improv- ate high power at high frequencies (mm- and terahertz
ing beam-wave interaction efficiency, 10-MW pulse waves) with a planar structure and a sheet-electron
power was reached for an L-band, multibeam klystron beam. Previous research has concluded that a peri-
with an efficiency of greater than 65% at a voltage of odic cusped-magnetic (PCM) field structure can-
115 kV and a current of 133 A [14]. Figure 3 depicts the not effectively confine the sheet-electron beam i n
six-cavity structure, six-beam gun, and L-band 10-MW two transverse directions simultaneously in some
tube. In addition, an 180-kW CW output power tube specific conditions, which has led to the proposal of
with an efficiency of greater than 45% and a gain of a more complicated PCM-PQM (periodic quadru-
larger than 50 dB at the S-band was achieved at a volt- pole magnets) structure for this sheet-electron beam
age of 44 kV and a current of 9 A with high-order mode restriction [21]. Zhao found that, if the aforemen-
operation [15]. Pulsed power of 600-kW/20-kW average tioned conditions are not satisfied, the PCM field’s
power was obtained for a C-band klystron with a focus can be used to control the sheet-electron beam
200-MHz bandwidth at a voltage of 32 kV and a current [22], and his group has successfully applied a PCM
of 80 A [16]. A 400-MHz bandwidth for an X-band klys- field for confining the beam with a transmission rate
tron with 80-kW pulse power/12-kW average power of larger than 95% for an X-band electron gun of a
was also reached at a voltage of 18.5 kV and a current sheet-beam klystron. At the X band, 2.8-MW pulsed
of 18 A [17]. power was obtained with a 36-dB gain and an effi-
ciency of 32.5% at a voltage of 123 kV and a current
EIKs
An EIK combines the high gain of klys-
trons with the wide bandwidth of TWTs TABLE 2. Typical multibeam klystron specifications.
to shorten the length of the circuit. It was Frequency
mainly developed at the Ka and W bands Band L S C X Ku
with a ladder-type line as the interaction Pulse power 75~10,000 120~1,500 30~600 30~100 0.3~20
circuit using circular beams from China, (kW)
where it was designed, manufactured, Average power/ 4~100 1~180 2~20 2~12 0.075–0.8
and tested. The test results show that 20-kW CW (kW)
pulsed power at the Ka band was achieved
Efficiency (%) 25~65 25~40 25~30 30~45 —
with a −3-dB bandwidth of 320 MHz, a gain
Bandwidth (%) 6~12 3~12 4~8 1~4 0.5~1.3
of 44 dB, an efficiency of 25% at a voltage
Gain (dB) 35~50 H40 38~43 H25 —
of 27 kV and a current of 2.65 A, and a

April 2021 21
 of 70 A [23], and, at the W-band, a 2-kW pulsed-power and stability of TWTs have all shown remarkable
sheet-beam klystron stably operated with a −3-dB improvement. In addition, microwave power mod-
bandwidth of 180 MHz at a voltage of 60 kV and a ules (MPMs) with mini-TWTs attached have dem-
current of 2.59 A [24]. onstrated decreased volume, weight, and voltage of
the system.
TWTs
Because of their broad bandwidth, TWTs have obtained Broadband TWTs
very wide applications, especially in communica- The operating frequency of broadband TWT’s products
tion and electronic countermeasures. Due to their overlays the L-Ka band, whose electric characteristics
application requirements, TWTs have recently experi- are listed in Table 3. The entire efficiency improve-
enced increased development in China, particularly ment of the tubes (30–45%) can or has been realized to
broadband, spaceborne, and coupled-cavity TWTs allow some TWTs to decrease their volume and weight
(CCTWTs), where both the electric characteristics by using phase-velocity tapering and a multistage

Frequency 1.303 GHz: Ez (V/n) at AREAXY1

(E + 6)
(E – 3)

100
0
–2.3
–4.6
50 –6.9
–9.2
–11.5
Y (n)

–13.8
0 –16.1
–18.4
–20.7
–50 –22
–25.3
–27.6
–100 –29.9

(a) (b)

Figure 3. A six-cavity structure, a six-beam gun, and an L-band 10-MW tube. (a) A high-frequency structure shape, a
projection of cathode simulation, and a 3D view of six beams, respectively. (b) A photo of the tube [14].

22 April 2021
depressed collector with an optimization design [25]. of spaceborne TWTs, which are mainly developed by
Figure 4(a) displays the images of a 100-W CW output IECAS, BVERI, and the San Le Group Ltd. in China.
power helix TWT, and a 2-kW pulse output power helix Their products have been provided for satellite use
TWT amplifier in the frequency range of 6~18 GHz is in the frequency range from the L to the Ka band,
shown in Figure 4(b). and TWTs at the Q/V band (also in development at
IECAS and BVERI) have achieved an output power
Spaceborne TWTs of 45–60/50 with an efficiency of 45/35%, respec-
Space applications entail very stringent requirements for tively. The characteristics of typical spaceborne TWTs
the volume, weight, efficiency, stability, and reliability are listed in Table 4. A Ka-band 100-W TWT with a

TABLE 3. Typical broadband TWT specifications.

Frequency
(GHz) Band 0.8–2 2–4/S 2–6 4–8 6–18 X Ku 18–26.5 26.5–40
Power (W) 200–1,000 200–1,000/>1,500 2,000 >200 30–200/2,000 1,200 330/2,500 130 H120
Duty cycle CW CW/10% >4% CW CW/>4% 10% 20%/4% CW CW
Gain (dB) >40 H36/>40 H40 >36 25–40/>40 >40 >40 >28 H28
Bandwidth — —/5,00 — — — 1,000 600/5,000 — —
(MHz)

(a) (b)

Figure 4. Two types of broadband TWTs. (a) A 6–18-GHz/100-CW output power helix TWT. (b) A 6–18-GHz/2-kW pulse
output power helix TWT.

TABLE 4. Typical spaceborne TWT specifications.

Frequency Band L S C X Ku K Ka Q V
Operating mode CW CW CW CW/pulse CW/pulse CW CW CW CW
Output power (W) 150 140 120 150/800–1,600 150/500–1,000 50–150 20–100 45–60 50
Global efficiency (%) 60 60 60 65/50 63/50 57–60 34–60 45 30
Bandwidth (GHz) 0.46 0.06 0.1 0.75/0.9 2/2 1–2 0.8–4 2 4
Saturated gain (dB) 47 47 47 40/40 48/40 40–55 35–50 40–50 35
Saturated phase (°) 45 45 45 — 45/— 45–55 #60 #55 #60
Amplitude/phase 4.5 4.5 4.5 4.5 4.5 4.5 4.5 4.5 4.5
modulation (°/dB)
Weight (kg) 2.5 2 1.5 1.5/1.5 1/1.2 0.9/1.1 0.82 0.83 0.98
*Cooling mode C C C C C/R C/R C/R C C
* C: conduction; R: radiation.

April 2021 23
The theoretical study of CCTWTs has based on equivalent circuits, experiments, and numeri-
cal simulation [27], [28].
lagged behind that of engineering After Zhang and Wu discussed the high-frequency
development, whose design is characteristics of Hughes’ coupled-cavity SWSs in 1986
usually based on equivalent [29], the analytical solutions to the dispersion and
coupling impedance for the double-slot, coupled-cavity
circuits, experiments, and numerical SWS shown in Figure 5 were solved by He et al. in 2013
simulation. [30] and applied to linear and nonlinear beam-wave
interaction theories [31] to investigate the amplifica-
tion mechanism and saturated behavior for the analy-
bandwidth of 800 MHz, a gain of 45 dB, and a global sis and design of crossed Chodorow SWS TWTs. An
efficiency of 60% obtained through radiation cooling X-band CCTWT was designed, manufactured, and tested
has been developed by BVERI [26]. and demonstrated that more than 12% of a −1.3-dB
saturated bandwidth can be reached at larger than
CCTWTs 100-kW pulsed output power (a duty cycle of >3%)
Compared with helix TWTs, CCTWTs can generate with an electron efficiency of no less than 12%; the
larger power with a bandwidth of 10–20%. In China, experimental results are in good agreement with those
CCTWTs that range from the S to the Q band for radar of the theoretical calculation.
applications have been developed. Table 5 lists the
electrical characteristics of some typical CCTWTs. The MPMs
theoretical study of CCTWTs has lagged behind that MPMs that combine mini-TWTs and integrated elec-
of engineering development, whose design is usually tronic power conditioners with solid-state amplifiers
for improving power and efficien-
cy and decreasing the volume,
TABLE 5. Typical CCTWT specifications. weight, and operating voltage of
Frequency the module have been developed
Band S C X Ku Ka Q in the frequency range from the L to
Power (kW) >12 >50 20~120 >20 0.3–0.8 1.5 pulse/0.18 CW the Ka band in China. The charac-
teristics of the typical MPMs listed
Duty cycle (%) — 10 3–10 10 20 —
in Table 6 [32] have been applied
Efficiency (%) — — 20~32 — H10 27
in space and aviation communica-
Bandwidth (%) 10 >10 12~18 >12 1 GHz 2 GHz tion as well as in electronic counter-
Gain (dB) — — H38 — >30 33 measures. These MPMs can operate
with a fixed-gain mode, automatic
Control Grid Grid Grid/cathode Anode Grid Grid
level control, and adjustable phase

A B
2θ0 ψ

S6 S0 0 S1 S7
–1 1
S4
R
F

3
S5
2D
2d
2a

4 Z

2g
S8 –2 S S3 2 S9
2

2h 2l
A-A 2L B-B

A B

Figure 5. A model of double-slot coupled cavity [30].

24 April 2021
 TABLE 6. Typical MPM specifications.

Frequency
(GHz)
Band L S C X Ku K Ka 2–6 4–18 32–40
Power (W) 120–160 120–140 80–100 1,000 1,000 20–100 55–60 100/200 50~200 55–150
Duty cycle CW CW CW 20% 15% CW CW CW CW CW
Gain (dB) 70–85 70–85 >70 >80 >80 60–90 60–90 >50 >50 >52
Bandwidth 60 80 300 800–3,000 500 500– 800 — — —
(MHz) 1,000
Efficiency >54 >55 >52 H45 H49 36–56 >50 >40 H35 H35
(%)
Power 24–42 or 24–42 or 24–42 or 33–48.5 or 33–48.5 or 24–42 or 24–42 or 28 ± 28 ± 28 ±
supply (V) 95–105 95–105 95–105 78–105.6 78–105.6 95–105 95–105 10% 10% 10%

and gain functions, and, in some situations, a power sup- The frequency range of the developed devices is
ply can provide the power for two MPMs. Figure 6(a) concentrated mainly in the W band or higher. No less
shows a 4–18-GHz 50-W MPM weighing 0.135 kg, and than 250-W pulsed output power with an 8-GHz band-
Figure 6(b) displays its mini-TWT [32]. width from 89.6 to 97.6 GHz and 424-W pulsed output
power at 92.9 GHz with an electron efficiency of ~10%
TWTs With Planar SWSs has been realized, with three-stage phase-velocity
When the frequency increases to the mm- or terahertz- step-tapering for improving the gain and electron
frequency range, the machining for metal parts becomes efficiency, a diamond output window for lowering
more and more difficult, and planar SWSs, which the RF loss, and a single-stage depressed collector for
are relatively easy for machining, are frequently used to recovering electron energy at a voltage of 22.5 kV and
increase the operating frequency and output power in
TWT R&D. In China, several types of planar SWSs,
such as FWGs, staggered double-grating array
waveguides, and microstrip meander lines (MMLs),
have been investigated using circular and sheet-beam
interactions for improving beam-wave synchroniza-
tion and enhancing coupling impedance to increase
the output power, efficiency, gain, and bandwidth of the
TWTs at a higher frequency with a smaller-size inter-
action structure. In addition, some special SWSs,
such as metamaterials, rectangular helixes, and pho-
tonic-crystal FWGs, have been analyzed and simulated
to better understand their functions relative to improv-
ing the interaction impedance of backward-wave oscil-
lators (BWOs) or to suppressing high-order modes for (a)
the stable operation of TWTs.

FWG TWTs
FWGs have been widely used as SWSs with single-
or multiple-beam interactions and power combina-
tions or cascaded to increase the output power of
TWTs in the mm- and terahertz-frequency ranges.
Various loaded FWGs were proposed by UESTC,
such as various ridge-loaded [33] a nd different
groove-loaded FWGs [34], which can increase the (b)
average coupling impedance of circular- or sheet-
beam-wave interactions and to some extent lower Figure 6. A 4–18-GHz 50-W MPM [32]. (a) An MPM
the transmission loss. and (b) a mini-TWT used in the MPM.

April 2021 25
There are three main types of beam voltage of 21.7 kV and a beam current of 168 mA
[38]. Table 7 lists the electric characteristics of the typi-
metal-grating SWSs: single grating, cal FWG TWTs in China.
symmetrical double grating, and
staggered double grating. Sheet-Beam TWTs
Sheet-beam TWTs (SBTWTs) are the combination of
a sheet-electron beam with a metal-grating SWS for
a current of 189 mA [35]. And no less than 55-W CW increasing the beam current at a higher frequency with
output power with a 4-GHz bandwidth at the W band a smaller structure size. There are three main types of
was reached by BVERI, with an electron efficiency of metal-grating SWSs: single grating, symmetrical dou-
4.5% and a total efficiency of 15% at a voltage of 16.4 kV ble grating, and staggered double grating. Compared
and a current of 75 mA [36]. with single grating and symmetrical double grating,
Spurred by China’s progress in simulation, design, staggered double grating can provide a wider synchro-
and fabrication technology, no fewer than 5 W with a nization bandwidth, higher interaction impedance,
23-dB gain from 214 to 219 GHz and 1 W at 340 GHz and lower high-frequency loss, which has been empha-
and 50 mW from 845 to 855 GHz, respectively, have sized in the R&D of SBTWTs [39].
been obtained at beam voltages of 20.7, 22, and 12 kV In the years since rectangular staggered double grat-
and beam currents of 50, 50, and 3 mA [37]. Based on ing was proposed and applied to the R&D of TWTs by
the recycle of second-harmonic information in the elec- researchers at the University of California, Davis [39],
tron beam of the TWT, a second-harmonic signal was sine waveguide and step-shaped groove-staggered
obtained using the cascade method from a W-band double-grating structures have also been reported.
FWG pulse TWT, and a G-band second-harmonic The sine waveguide can more easily match to input
amplifier ranging from 170 to 260 GHz was designed structures whose high-frequency characteristics and
and experimentally demonstrated, which indicates beam-wave interaction are being investigated in China
that more than 100 mW of the second-harmonic out- with theory, simulation, and experiments. On the other
put power in the frequency range of 171–184 GHz with hand, step-shaped grooves may further improve the
input frequencies ranging from 85.5 to 92 GHz and a synchronization bandwidth and interaction imped-
maximum output power of 500 mW can be reached at a ance of staggered double-grating structures.
A theoretical model for an arbitrarily
TABLE 7. Typical FWG TWT specifications.
shaped groove-staggered double-grating
array waveguide SWS (Figure 7) was
Frequency (GHz) proposed by Xie et al. for solving high-
Band 32–34 89.6–97.6 W 214–219 340 845–855 frequency characteristics as well as linear
Power (W) 1,000 H250 H55 H5 H1 0.05 and nonlinear beam-wave interactions
Duty cycle — Pulse CW — — — [40]–[42], with which a 3D frequency do-
Saturated gain (dB) 30–40 70–85 — — —
main small- and large-signal analysis
H23
code, called SBTWT 3D, was built. The
Bandwidth (MHz) — — 4,000 — — —
high-frequency characteristics and beam-
Efficiency (%) >10 H10 H4.5 — — —
wave interaction analysis for a W-band
Beam voltage (kV) 25.2 22.5 16.4 20.7 22 12 SBTWT using the SBTWT 3D code was
Beam current (mA) 426 189 75 50 50 3 performed. The calculated results were
compared with those obtained from the

y Input Output
Window Window
y II a

z I 2g
s
x
d
h III

p b Electron Gun SWS PCM System Collector

Figure 7. The model of an arbitrarily shaped groove- Figure 8. The model of a Ka-band staggered double-vane
staggered double-grating array waveguide [40]. SWS TWT [43].

26 April 2021
time-domain 3D photonic integrated circuit (PIC) sim-
Due to their high efficiency, CW
ulations and showed 1) good agreements and 2) that
the SBTWT 3D code is far more efficient. magnetrons are applied in microwave
Figure 8 depicts a Ka-band staggered double-grat- wireless power transmission, a
ing SWS TWT [43], in which a small, tunable PCM was
relatively new application field.
used for the sheet-electron beam focus with an experi-
mental transmission rate of >93% in a 112.7-mm-length
SWS under the conditions of a 24.3-kV beam voltage Beacon Magnetrons
and 0.8-A beam current. The tested results showed that Beacon magnetrons are primarily used in the signal
the output power of the TWT was larger than 75 W, identification of responders, and their frequency bands
ranging from 33 to 37.5 GHz, and that the maximum are focused in the C, X, and Ku bands, in which metal
output power was 128 W at 34 GHz, which provides the cavities with low thermal-expansion coefficients are
foundation for the development of sheet-electron beam used, and their frequencies are tuned through alu-
vacuum devices. minium oxide dielectric rings with high-frequency
stability. In China, X-band magnetrons can have an out-
MML TWTs put power of 2.5 kW with a frequency stability of around
An MML TWT ca n generate several tens to sev- 10−5–10−6, two magnitudes higher than that of ordinary
eral hundred watts of mm-wave power with high magnetrons and close to that of coaxial magnetrons at
efficiency and wide bandwidth at low beam volt- an operational voltage of 3 kV and a current of 3.5 A.
ages and miniature structure sizes. MMLs have been Table 8 details the typical beacon magnetrons developed
researched or proposed for several types of SWSs, by BVERI.
such as V-shaped, symmetric double-V-shaped, rhom-
bus-shaped, and angular log-periodic MMLs and CW Magnetrons
for angular log-periodic strip lines [44]. Compared CW magnetrons are used mainly in heating systems
with the first four types of MMLs, the angular log- for industry, agriculture, medicine, and daily life. Their
periodic strip line (Figure 9) proposed by UESTC was cathodes and power output structures are specifically
prepared using high-melting-point metal, which can designed for long life spans and robustness. Using
decrease charge accumulation and withstand elec- metal tungsten or thorium/tungsten direct-heating
tron impacts, and possesses a larger power capacity. cathodes, a CW power of 2–30 kW can be realized at
According to the PIC simulation results, a dual-sheet- the S band, while a maximum of 30-kW output power
beam planar dielectric-rod-support uniform metallic with an efficiency of 67% was reached at a voltage of
meander line TWT can achieve an output power of 13.5 kV and a current of 3.3 A [45].
330.2 W at 38 GHz under the conditions of a 10.6-kV Due to their high efficiency, CW magnetrons are
beam voltage and 0.2-A beam current. The corre- applied in microwave wireless power transmission, a
sponding maximum gain and electron efficiency are relatively new application field. For example, S-band
23.4 dB and 15.5%, respectively, while the length of the
entire SWS is only 20 mm.
Dielectric
Angular Log-Periodic Rods
Magnetrons Metal Shell
Strip Line SWS
A magnetron is a re-entrant resonant-type cross-field
device that has the properties of high efficiency and low
voltage when compared to other vacuum devices; it has
been widely used in defense, industry, and agricultural and
medical systems for its small volume, light weight, and low Cathode Signal Ports
cost. Magnetrons that can generate high power and high
efficiency at microwave and mm-wavelengths, ranging Figure 9. The structure of an angular log-periodic strip-
from the L to W band, have been developed in China. line SWS [44].

TABLE 8. The typical beacon magnetron specifications developed by BVERI.

Frequency Power (kW) Voltage (kV) Current (A) Pulsewidth (µs) Duty Cycle (%) Cooling
C band 1.5 2.6 2.5 0.6 1 Conduction
X band 2.5 3.2 4 0.5 1 Conduction
Ku band 1.3 3.2 4 0.5 2.5 Conduction

April 2021 27
 beam current [47]. The maximum power of a Ka-band
Gyrotrons can generate high power magnetron can reach 110 kW, and a cold-cathode mag-
with higher-order modes at the mm- netron at the Ka band was developed using lead–bar-
or even terahertz-frequency range. ium alloy emitters with 20 kW of power.
Frequency-agile magnetrons at the mm-wave band
with precise mechanical tuning have been developed
CW magnetrons with an output power of 2 kW and with 10-MHz precise tuning, 1.5-GHz mechanical tun-
C-band CW magnetrons with 1.5 kW have been used ing, and hundreds of megahertz of frequency agility. A
in microwave wireless power transmission systems. Ka-band frequency-agile magnetron can have an agile
Table 9 lists typical CW magnetron specifications frequency of 2.4 × 105 MHz/s.
in China. Research on the W-band magnetron was initiated at
the beginning of this century, and the design of the inter-
High-Power Magnetrons action structure is based on the non-Pi mode and space-
In general, oxide cathodes are used for high-current harmonic operation, which can significantly reduce the
densities of more than 20 A/cm2 and pulsewidths of operational magnetic field and enlarge the dimensions
5 μs for high-power magnetrons of 1–10 MW and effi- of the resonant structures by two times, mitigating the
ciencies of 40–50%. High-power magnetrons over manufacturing requirement for precision. The first one
megawatts have been developed at the L, S, C, and X was demonstrated at BVERI in 2015, with an output
bands. Power of 2.6 MW at the S band was obtained at power of 3 kW and efficiency of 2.5% operating at the
a voltage of 45 kV and a current of 110 A [46]. Specifi- first space harmonic at a voltage of 13.6 kV and a current
cations for the typical high-power magnetrons devel- of 8 A [48]. Theoretical analysis and experiments have
oped by BVERI are listed in Table 10. also been carried out for self-emission cold-cathode mag-
netrons and cold-cathode magnetrons with auxiliary
Mm-Wave Magnetrons thermal cathodes. In 2019, improvements in high-cur-
There is a series of magnetrons in the mm-wave fre- rent-density cathodes, interaction efficiency, and thermal
quency band with power from 2 to 60 kW, and the max- management technologies were implemented, and the
imum power can reach 110 kW at 35 GHz. Combining properties were enhanced with tested power of 10 kW
the miniaturization with efficient thermal management and efficiency of 8.2%. In Table 11, the typical mm-wave
technology, high power, frequency agility, and the use magnetron specifications at BVERI are shown.
of cold cathodes has been achieved in high-frequency
magnetrons. As an example, power of more than 60 kW Gyrotrons
and efficiency of 33% of a Ka-band magnetron have Gyrotrons comprise a large family of moderate, rela-
been achieved with a 14.4-kV voltage and with a 13.7-A tivistic vacuum electron devices, but only gyrotron

TABLE 9. Typical CW magnetron specifications.

Frequency Power (kW) Voltage (kV) Current (A) Efficiency (%) Cooling Magnets
S band 2 4.2 0.75 63.5 Forced air Permanent
S band 3 5 0.85 70.5 Forced air Permanent
S band 30 13.5 3.3 67.3 Water cooling EM
C band 1.5 6 0.42 60 Water cooling EM
EM: electromagnet.

TABLE 10. A typical high-power magnetron developed by BVERI.

Duty
Frequency Power (kW) Voltage (kV) Current (A) Pulsewidth (µs) Cycle (%) Cooling Magnets
L band 1 35 80 2 0.5 Water cooling Permanent
S band 2.6 45 110 4.2 0.84 Water cooling —
S band 4.8 75 735 2.5 0.08 Water cooling —
S band 5.5 51 268 3 0.3 Water cooling —
C band 2.5 45 110 2.5 3 Water cooling Permanent
X band 1.5 38 75 3 0.6 Water cooling Permanent

28 April 2021
oscillators, gyro-TWTs, and gyroklystrons have been
Because of the bandwidth
researched and developed in China. Gyrotrons can
generate high power with higher-order modes at the requirement of radar, research into
mm- or even terahertz-frequency range. gyro-TWTs has received significant
support from the government.
Gyrotron Oscillators
Gyrotron oscillator research started in the middle of
the 1970s in China. At the 8-mm band with second- frequency [51]. A 170-GHz gyrotron oscillator is in the
harmonic operation, gyrotron oscillators with the TE0,2 design/development stage with the cooperation of the
mode and 70-kW output power and 200-kW output aforementioned five institutions.
power, which adopted the TE0,2/TE0,3 complex cavity The linear and self-consistent nonlinear beam-
for fusion plasma heating and diagnosis, were success- wave interaction analysis code for a gyrotron oscilla-
fully developed by IECAS at the middle and at the end tor was established at UESTC. The code can be used
of the 1980s, respectively [49]. An 8-mm, 100-kW gyro- for the selection of the operating mode, suppression
tron oscillator operating at the third harmonic and of competing modes, optimization of output power,
with a permanent magnetic system was developed by and efficiency by adjusting the geometrical and
UESTC [50] in 2000. electric parameters while maintaining single-mode
Recently, gyrotron oscillators have been investi- stable oscillation. The combination of the code with
gated in China primarily for 1) long-pulsed/CW and the design software of the magnetron injection gun
megawatt output power for fusion plasma heating at has provided a good approach for the R&D of the
the frequencies of 140 and 170 GHz, respectively, and gyrotron oscillator. A TE 6,2-mode, 94-GHz gyro-
2) several tens of kilowatt-pulsed output power at the tron oscillator was developed with an output power
W band for counteracting terror and at the terahertz of 23 kW at a beam voltage of 24.1 kV and a beam
frequency range for medicinal and biological appli- current of 1.8 A, corresponding to an efficiency of
cations. The first application is based on the national roughly 53% with a single-stage depressed collec-
requirement of continuously progressive fusion plasma tor voltage of 7.4 kV. And an output power of 51 kW
heating technology for gyrotron oscillators. The other was obtained at a beam voltage of 40 kV and a beam
applications stem from the technological advances current of 4 A, corresponding to an efficiency of
at UESTC. Table 12 lists the electric parameters and approximately 32%.
characteristics of the two types of gyrotron oscillators A 0.22-THz gyrotron oscillator with a pulse magnet
developed in recent years. operated at the TE0,3 mode, and the output power was
The development of gyrotron oscillators at the fre- roughly 11.5 kW [52]. Another frequency-step-tunable
quencies of 140 and 170 GHz is being supported by the gyrotron oscillator based on a superconducting magnet
National Key R&D Program of China, in cooperation achieved 45-kW output power with TE0,3 fundamental
with the Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy mode operation at a beam voltage of 52 kV and a beam
of Sciences, IECAS, UESTC, BVERI, and the South- current of 5 A [53]. A 0.42-THz second-harmonic com-
western Institute of Physics. At the 2018 International plex-cavity gyrotron oscillator operated at the TE17,3/
Vacuum Electronics Conference, a gyrotron oscillator TE17,4 modes, and the output power was 19.3 kW at
operating in the fundamental mode of 140-GHz TE22, 6 a beam voltage of 51 kV and a beam current of 4.4 A
was presented by BVERI with a pulse output power of [54]. A 0.11-/0.22-THz dual-frequency-operation coaxial
~430 kW at a 300-µS pulsewidth and 5-Hz repetition gyrotron oscillator with two electron beams operated

TABLE 11. The typical mm-wave magnetron specifications at BVERI.

Frequency Tuning Power (kW) Voltage (kV) Current (A) Pulsewidth (µs) Duty Cycle (%) Cooling
Ka band — 5 8 7 1 1 Conduction
Ka band — 14 12.5 10 0.5 1 Air
Ka band Mechanically 30 13 10 0.5 0.5 Air
Ka band Mechanically 60 14.4 13.7 0.5 1 Air
Ka band Agile 18 12.4 12 0.5 0.67 Conduction
Ka band Precise tuning 20 12.5 12 1 1 Conduction
W band — 2 13.6 8 0.5 0.5 Air
W band — 10 13.5 8 0.5 0.5 Air

April 2021 29
 at the TE0,2 and TE0,4 modes simultaneously, and its out- Gyroamplifiers
put power was approximately 20 kW at a beam voltage Research into gyroamplifiers started at the end of the
of 40 kV and a beam current of 10 A. A 0.11-/0.22-THz 1990s in China. At first, the amplifiers’ development
coaxial gyrotron with two electron beams is presented concentrated on Ka-band harmonic-multiplying gyro-
in Figure 10 [55]. TWTs and gyroklystrons, which had resulted in a max-
imum output power of 75 kW, a −3-dB bandwidth of
TABLE 12. The electric parameters and characteristics 1.06%, and a gain of more than 25 dB at a pulse voltage
of gyrotron oscillators. of 67.2 kV, a pulse current of 15.8 A, and a duty cycle of
0.1% at a fundamental (~16.5-GHz) input signal and a
TE17,1/ TE0,2/
second-harmonic (~33-GHz) output signal for the gyro-
Mode TE22,6 TE6,2 TE0,3 TE17,4 TE0,4
TWT [56] and at a peak output power of more than
Frequency (GHz) 140 94 220 421.65 110/220 300 kW at 34 GHz with a −3-dB bandwidth of 1%, an
Power (kW) ~430 23 45 19.3 20 efficiency of larger than 30 dB, and a gain of 36 dB for
Duty cycle (%) 0.15 — — — — the TE01/TE02-mode gyroklystron [57].
Efficiency (%) 22.6 53 — — — Because of the bandwidth requirement of radar,
research into gyro-TWTs has received significant
Beam voltage 68 24.1 52 51 40
(kV) support from the government, which has promoted
its development in the Ku, Ka, Q, and W bands with
Beam current (A) 28 1.8 5 4.4 10
fundamental harmonic operation, and this support
Harmonic 1 — 1 2 1/2 has garnered a series of meaningful developments. A
high-power, Ku-band TE01-mode gyro-TWT with an
improved broadband input structure was designed,
fabricated, and tested, in which a lossy, ceramic-
loaded structure with mode-selective attenuation
ability was proposed to suppress potential backward-
wave oscillation. The experimental results show that
it can produce a 420-kW maximum peak power, a
roughly 35-dB saturated gain, 23% efficiency, and
more than a 1.6-GHz (10%) −1-dB bandwidth in a sta-
ble operating condition [58].
A Ka-band, TE 01-mode operational gyro-TWT
with periodic loss-loaded dielectric rings, 330-kW
pulse power with a −3-dB bandwidth of 2.8 GHz,
and a maximum gain and efficiency of 70 dB and
57% was realized at a voltage of 67.5 kV and a current
Figure 10. A gyrotron oscillator with 0.11/0.22-THz of 8.5 A [59]. An experiment was performed to bet-
dual-frequency operation [55]. ter adapt it for application in radar, which shows that

TABLE 13. The electric characteristics of gyroamplifiers.

Mode TE0,1/TE0,2 TE0,1/TE0,2 TE0,1 TE0,1 TE0,1 TE0,2 TE0,1 TE0,1

Frequency band Ka Ku/Ka Ku Ka Ka Ka Q W

Power (kW) 300 75 ~420 330 130 100 175 115

Average power (kW) — — — — 10 — — —

Gain (dB) 36 25 ~35 70 ~ 44 57 39

Efficiency (%) 30 ~7.1 23 57 >20 15 38 38

Bandwidth (GHz)/ 1%/−3 dB 1.06%/−3 dB 1.6/−1 dB 2.8/−3 dB 8%/−1 dB 20%/−3 dB 3 GHz/−3 dB 5 GHz/−3 dB
relative bandwidth
Harmonic 1 1/2 1 1 1 1 1 1

Device type Gyroklystron Gyro-TWT Gyro-TWT Gyro-TWT Gyro-TWT Gyro-TWT Gyro-TWT Gyro-TWT

30 April 2021
a Ka-band gyro-TWT with a peak power and average in good agreement with the experimental and simu-
power of more than 150 and 10 kW, a −1-dB fraction lated ones [65].
bandwidth of 8%, and an efficiency of more than
20% can continuously and stably operate for more than Other Devices
100 h [60].
A broadband Ka-band gyro-TWT operating in the BWOs
TE0,2 mode with a fully dielectric-loaded interaction A 0.346-THz BWO for fusion plasma diagnostics was
circuit was developed, and a saturated peak output designed with single-grating SWSs, a PPM focus,
power of 100 kW was achieved at the center frequency a diamond output window, and a single depressed
of 29 GHz, corresponding to a saturated gain of 44 dB collector, in which the simulated results have shown
and an efficiency of more than 15% within a −3-dB sat- that 5-W output power can be obtained at a voltage
urated bandwidth of 6.1 GHz (20% relative bandwidth) of 22 kV and a current of 50 mA. The fabrication
[61]. A Q-band gyro-TWT was studied with periodic of the tube is under way [66]. A cascade BWO based
loss-loaded dielectric rings operating in the circular on metamaterial SWSs of complementary electric
TE0,1 mode, and 175-kW peak output power, a −3-dB split-ring resonator unit cells [89] was simulated
bandwidth of 3 GHz, a saturated gain of 57 dB, and using CST code, which shows that, at the frequency
38% efficiency was reached [62]. In addition, a W-band of 4.8466 GHz, the device can offer a peak output
gyro-TWT with periodic loss-loaded dielectric rings power of 14.51 MW with a maximum elect ron ic
operating in the circular TE0,1 mode was developed efficiency of 82.44%. Another BWO with metamate-
with 110-kW peak output power, a −3-dB bandwidth of rial SWSs was reported in [67]; it can produce 4-MW
5 GHz, a saturated gain of 39 dB, and 38% maximum output power at a frequency of 2.454 GHz with a
efficiency [63]. All of the gyrotron amplifiers’ charac- higher electronic efficiency than that of conven-
teristics are listed in Table 13. tional BWOs.
Moreover, based on the lossy uniform/periodic
dielectric-loaded metal cylindrical waveguide typi- Some FWG Oscillators
cally used in academic analysis and engineering A stopband oscillator was proposed for a compact,
research (Figure 11), a multimode steady-state beam- high-power radiation source to meet the requirements
wave interaction theory for gyro-TWTs was estab- of terahertz-spectrum exploitation and application,
lished by Tang et al. [64], which considers the mutual which was successfully demonstrated experimen-
effects among the other oscillation modes and the tally by using FWG SWSs with a maximum pulsed
operating mode. As application examples, under the output power of 32 W and an oscillator frequency of
same condition of geometrical and electrical param- 124.45 GHz at a voltage of 23.1 kV and a current of
eters, the theoretical results of the beam-wave inter- 150 mA [68]. Two types of extended interaction oscil-
action for the TE 0,1 fundamental-mode gyro-TWTs lators with peak powers of 12 and 4 W at 108 and
were compared with the experimental results for 316 GHz with a voltage of 20.9/18 kV and a current of
the Ka band and those simulated with Magic code 95/60 mA, respectively, were developed using two-
for the W band to demonstrate the rationality of the section FWGs as a high-frequency structure [69].
theory, which shows that the theoretical results are In addition, the radiation mechanism of a terahertz

Metal Metal Metal

Lossy Layer Lossy Layer Lossy Layer
Vacuum Vacuum Vacuum
rw rw rw + ∆r rw rw + ∆r
rw

Linear Nonlinear Linear Nonlinear

+

I Section Section Section

∆r

I Section
II II b L

(a) (b) (c)

Figure 11. The structures of the loss-loaded cylindrical waveguides. (a) The transverse sectional view, (b) the longitudinal
view of a uniform loss-loaded cylindrical waveguide, and (c) the longitudinal view of a periodic loss-loaded cylindrical
waveguide [64], [65].

April 2021 31
 self-focusing beam-plasma system has been discussed [13] Y. G. Ding et al., “Research progress on C-band broadband mul-
tibeam klystron,” IEEE Trans. Electron Devices, vol. 54, no. 4, pp.
for both dispersion and beam interaction [70].
624–631, Apr. 2007. doi: 10.1109/TED.2007.892354.
[14] R. Zhang, private communication.
Conclusions [15] H. P. Feng, F. J. Sun, and R. H. Wang, “Development of S band
In the past 20–25 years, research into the theory and large power CW klystron,” (in Chinese), in Proc. 20th Nat. Vacuum
Electron. Conf., Xiamen, China, 2016, p. 441.
device development of MVEDs has advanced greatly,
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especially in terms of the performance and life span beam klystron,” (in Chinese), Vacuum Electron., no. 3, pp. 44–46,
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TWTs as well as the theoretical methods, simulation [17] Y. N. Wu, D. F. Li, H. T. Li, Y. X. Wang, X. Li and J. S. Wang, “Devel-
opment of X band 80kW broadband multibeam klystron,” (in Chi-
techniques, and development of innovative MVEDs nese), in Proc. 21th Nat. Vacuum Electron. Conf., Pingliang, Gansu,
related to circular or sheet beams. These achievements China, 2018, p. 82.
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communication, radar, accelerator, and fusion plasma “Development of a high power Ka-band extend interaction klys-
tron,” in Proc. 20th Int. Vacuum Electron. Conf., 2019, pp. 1–3.
heating but have also accelerated the development [19] Y. Wei et al., “Development of W band EIK,” (in Chinese), in Proc.
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[20] C. Q. Zhang, C. J. Ruan, D. Zhao, S. Z. Wang, and X. D. Yang,
porting still-greater progress in the competition with
“Complete eigenmode analysis of a ladder-type multiple-gap reso-
solid-state amplifiers in China. nant cavity,” Chin. Phys. B, vol. 23, no. 8, pp. 608–615, 2014.
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Acknowledgment confinement of nonrelativistic sheet electron-beams with periodic
cusped magnetic focusing,” J. Appl. Phys., vol. 73, no. 9, p. 4140, 1993.
This work was supported by National Natural Sci-
doi: 10.1063/1.352847.
ence Foundation of China grants 61921002, 61988102, [22] D. Zhao, “Validity of closed periodic magnetic focusing for sheet
11175186, 11205162, 61831011, and 61527850. electron beams,” Phys. Plasmas, vol. 16, no. 11, p. 113,102, 2009. doi:
10.1063/1.3257169.
[23] D. Zhao, X. Lu, Y. Liang, X. D. Yang, C. J. Ruan, and Y. G. Ding,
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April 2021 33
 Research on
GaN-Based RF
Devices

Yue Hao, Xiaohua Ma, © SHUT TE

RSTOC
K.COM
/T

Minhan Mi, and Lin-An Yang

ITIMA
ONGK
ANTO
NG

A
s an important part of wireless communica- performance in high-frequency applications. Recently,
tion systems, the technology of RF devices the cutoff frequency f T of GaAs- and InP-based devices
and circuits has been progressing rap- has approached more than 200 and 600 GHz, respec-
idly. For h igh-frequency a nd h igh- tively. However, due to the low critical electric field of
power applications, vacuum electronic GaAs and InP materials, the breakdown voltage of the
devices (e.g., traveling wave tubes) have been widely devices has risen only slightly, which limits the output
used, although the vacuum tube is large in size and power performance, as shown in Figure 1. Instead, they
hard to integrate. are mainly used for low-noise amplifiers.
Solid-state electronic devices [e.g., gallium arse- GaN semiconductor material possesses both a high
nide (GaAs)-, indium phosphide (InP)-, and gallium critical breakdown field and a relatively high saturated
nitride (GaN)-based devices] also exhibit excellent electron velocity, as displayed in Table 1 [1]; thus, it has

Yue Hao ([email protected]), Xiaohua Ma ([email protected]), Minhan Mi ([email protected]), and

Lin-An Yang ([email protected]) are with the State Key Discipline Laboratory of Wide Band Gap Semiconductor
Technology, School of Microelectronics, Xidian University, Xi’an, 710071, China.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MMM.2020.3047746
Date of current version: 2 March 2021

34 1527-3342/21©2021IEEE April 2021

 100,000
300

Normalized Figure of Merit

2 2
250 EBνs
JFM =
GaN Power Device 4π2
10,000 200
Thermal Limit
150

100
1,000
??? 50
Maximum Power (Watt)

0
Vacuum Tube Regime Si GaAs InP SiC GaN
100
Air Defense and GaN Power Device
Surveillance Radar Theoretical Limit
Missile
EW Transmitters
10 Jammers EW
DBS EHF Jammers
GaAs Power Device SHF SATCOM SATCOM
Thermal Limit EHF SATCOM
Radar Array Smart Smart
1 Weapons Weapons
GaAs Power Device
Theoretical Limit
InP Power Device
GaAs Theoretical Limit InP
0.1

1 10 100
Frequency (GHz)

Figure 1. The physical limitations on the frequency and power of different transistors. JFM: Johnson figure of merit; SiC:
silicon carbide; EW: electronic warfare; DBS: direct broadcast satellite; SHF: super high-frequency; EHF: extremely high-
frequency; SATCOM: satellite communications.

attracted much more attention for both high-power raise the breakdown voltage of devices [12], [13]. These
and high-frequency operations, whereas GaN-based improved technologies have enabled a record power
high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) have made density of 41 W/mm at 4 GHz [14].
significant progress in RF power applications [2]–[6]. For a high-efficiency GaN-based device in the
Since the 1990s, due to the excellent electric proper- millimeter-wave frequency, two aspects need to be
ties of GaN materials, much research effort has been investigated: the small-signal characteristics and the
devoted to GaN-based HEMTs [7]. Important mile- efficiency. The reason for improving the small-signal
stones in this research include the first report of an alu- characteristics is to guarantee that the device can
minum gallium nitrate (AlGaN)/GaN HEMT in 1993
[8] and the report of an AlGaN/GaN heterostructural
HEMT with f T and f max of 11 and 35 GHz, respectively, TABLE 1. The properties of several semiconductor
materials [1].
in 1994, which stems from AlGaN/GaN’s higher elec-
tron–electron mobility in the 2D electron gas (2DEG) Saturated Critical
channel over that of bulk material [9]. Since then, two Electron Electron Electric
major breakthroughs in device processing have driven Bandgap Mobility Velocity Field
the development of GaN-based HEMTs toward the Material (eV) (cm2/V s) (cm/s) (MV/cm)
microwave power regime. One is the use of a silicon Si 1.1 1,300 1 # 107 0.3
nitride (SiN) passivation layer to reduce the density of GaAs 1.4 8,000 1 # 10 7
0.4
the surface state near the material surface, which aims InP 1.3 10,000 2.2 # 10 7
0.5
to suppress the current collapse and improve the out-
GaN 3.4 1,100 1.2 # 107 3
put power performance of devices [10], [11]. The other 7
AlGaN/GaN 3.4–6.2 2,000 1.2 # 10 3–5.5
is the introduction of the field plate structure, which
can modulate the electric field distribution between SiC 3.26 900 0.8 # 107 2.2
the gate and drain to smooth the peak electric field and

April 2021 35
 operate at millimeter-wave frequencies. The key index Based on these improvements, a GaN HEMT exhibit-
for this is the current gain and power gain cutoff fre- ing a power density of 4.9 W/mm, a PAE of 45%, and
quencies, f T and f max , which are primarily determined an associated power gain of 6.3 dB at a drain bias of
by the carrier mobility, electron saturation velocity, 30 V at 30 GHz was achieved in [20]. Recently, a mil-
gate length, aspect ratio, channel resistance, para- limeter-wave power GaN HEMT exhibiting a peak
sitic capacitance, and parasitic resistance. In 2000, [15] PAE of 59.4% accompanied by 4.3 W/mm at 30 GHz
reported an AlGaN/GaN HEMT grown by molecular was reported, where N 2 O plasma treatment process-
beam epitaxy (MBE) with a 50-nm gate length that ing under the gate region was proposed to reduce the
demonstrated an f T of 110 GHz and an f max of more gate leakage [21]. Other techniques, such as using the
than 140 GHz, in which a relatively high barrier layer N-face GaN epitaxial growth and configuring the back
lowers the aspect ratio and leads to an evident short- barrier for heterostructures, have also been reported to
channel effect (SCE): it results in a nonlinear increase enhance the power performance of GaN HEMTs in the
of f T and f max with the decrease in gate length. V and W bands.
To suppress the SCE and enable the aspect ratio, the In this article, we focus on the small-signal char-
barrier thickness needs to decrease by an equal pro- acteristics and efficiency characteristics to design a
portion to the gate length. In 2008, an AlGaN/GaN GaN-based, high-efficiency millimeter-wave device.
HEMT adopting a 6-nm AlGaN barrier and a 60-nm We discuss the progress in manufacturing technolo-
gate length showed an f T and f max of 190 and 227 GHz, gies for GaN-based, high-efficiency millimeter-wave
which are much higher than previous results [16]. Fur- HEMTs, including the heterostructure epitaxial struc-
ther, in 2010, a 20-nm AlGaN barrier was employed for ture and device processing. We explain how to improve
a 60-nm gate length HEMT with a recess-gate structure the device operating frequency, including the epitaxial
and a 1-nm source-drain distance (L sd), which yielded structure of the AlGaN/GaN, InAlN/GaN, and AlN/
a record f max of 300 GHz [17]. GaN heterojunctions; the high-frequency gate struc-
Since then, research interest has focused on the ture; the low-resistance ohmic contact; and the short-
strong, spontaneous polarization characteristics of channel-effect suppression. We also present efficiency
indium aluminum nitride (InAlN) material because a improvement technologies, including the passivation
very thin InAlN barrier can provide a high 2DEG den- process and surface plasma treatment.
sity. In 2012, it was reported that a 7.5-nm InAlN bar-
rier for an InAlN/GaN heterostructure could yield a GaN-Based RF Device Technology
2DEG density of 1.92 # 10 13 cm -2 and a sheet resistance High-performance GaN-based RF devices should pos-
of 262 X/sq. Combined with an L sd of 865  nm and a sess the following characteristics: a large drain current,
regrown ohmic contact with a contact resistance of high breakdown voltage, high operation frequency, low
0.16 X $ mm, a record f T of 370 GHz was obtained in off-state/gate leakage, suppressed current collapse, large
[18]. Next, a thin AlN top barrier of 3.5 nm thickness output power, and high efficiency. In this section, three
was proposed to achieve higher frequency, and the approaches to improving the performance of GaN-based
device, with a self-aligned gate, a regrown ohmic con- RF HEMTs are discussed: the epitaxial material, device
tact region, and a 20-nm gate, demonstrated an ultra- fabrication, and circuit design and fabrication of the mono-
high f T and f max of 454 and 444 GHz, respectively [19]. lithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC).
In addition to improving the small-signal frequency
characteristics, the other aspect that must be improved Material Systems for GaN-Based RF Devices
is the large-signal performance, especially the power- At present, the commonly used material systems for
added efficiency (PAE), which is particularly impor- GaN-based RF devices include AlGaN/GaN, InAlN/
tant when devices are used in power amplifiers. It GaN, and AlN/GaN heterostructural materials. In
is known that small-signal characteristics can be industry, AlGaN/GaN-powered HEMTs are more
improved by reducing the device dimensions. How- mature technologies because the AlGaN barrier mate-
ever, when devices are used in high-frequency and rial can effectively solve the problem of low breakdown
large-power fields, small-signal characteristics are not voltage. However, due to the thickness requirement of
the whole story; in this case, the breakdown voltage, the AlGaN barrier, the SCE inevitably induces a dete-
gate leakage, and current collapse need to be taken rioration of the off-state characteristics and leads to a
into consideration. significant decrease in efficiency. The highest f max for
A T-shaped gate with an air gap configuration has a device employing an AlGaN barrier approached
been developed to minimize the parasitic capacitance 300 GHz, where it employs the gate recess process and
and so enable a high power gain, and a slant field plate shrinks the source-drain space (L sd = 1.1 nm) [17].
structure has also been employed to decrease the peak The main problem with the gate recess process is
electric field and so improve the breakdown voltage. that it induces a large gate leakage and a relatively low

36 April 2021
breakdown voltage of only 20 V. Until now, an AlGaN/ barrier layer that also maintains 2DEG density, which
GaN-powered HEMT operating at 30 GHz has yielded is very important for suppressing the SCE and improv-
an output power density of 10 W/mm and a PAE of 40% ing the operating frequency of the device. As reported
when biased at 45 V [22]. However, it is still unable to in [19], a 40-nm gate length AlN/GaN HEMT exhibited
work at higher frequencies due to the limit of f T and f max . a f T/f max of 220/400 GHz.
Raising the operating frequency would require a further Because of the large mismatch between the temper-
thinning of the barrier, which would reduce the carrier ature windows for epitaxial growth in AlN and GaN,
density and degrade the output power performance. it is difficult to grow high-quality ultrathin AlN/GaN
To solve this problem, increasing the Al mole frac- heterojunctions. Obtaining a high-quality AlN epitax-
tion is an effective approach because it can enhance ial layer without destroying the surface structure of the
the polarization of the AlGaN barrier while retaining GaN epitaxial layer is still a key issue in the prepara-
a sufficient 2DEG density even with a thinner barrier. tion of an AlN/GaN heterojunction.
However, the lattice mismatch between the AlGaN
barrier and the GaN channel becomes larger and larger The Fabrication Technology
as the proportion of Al increases. Meanwhile, the criti- of GaN-Based RF Devices
cal thickness at which strain relaxation occurs becomes The key fabrication processes for GaN-based devices
smaller. As a result, a thin AlGaN barrier with a high include the gate configuration, source-drain ohmic
Al composition cannot undergo stress and strain relax- contact, and channel engineering. Development of
ation, leading to undesirable dislocations and cracks. the gate structure aims to reduce the gate parasitic
In addition, a larger crystal mismatch between AlGaN
and GaN also causes a stronger piezoelectric effect.
For high-power HEMTs, due to the inverse piezo- 7
electric effect, a strong electric field that usually occurs
6 AIN
near the drain side of the gate can induce a very large
stress in the barrier layer. It can cause a stress release 5
Band Gap (eV)

in the barrier layer, which generates a large number of

defects, thereby degrading the device performance or 4
4H-SiC GaN
even causing the device to fail. To address these issues,
3
a lattice closely matched with InAlN material having 6H-SiC
an In composition of 17% has been developed, as illus- 2
trated in Figure 2. Due to its high Al content, the spon-
1
taneous polarization between InAlN and GaN is larger InN Si (111)
than that of AlGaN/GaN, yielding a higher 2DEG den- 0
sity. InAlN/GaN is a very promising heterostructure 0.3 0.32 0.34 0.36 0.38 0.4
for ultrahigh-frequency HEMTs. In-Plane Lattice Parameter (nm)
Among the group III nitrides and their alloy mate-
rials, AlN has the highest spontaneous polarization, Figure 2. The relationship between band-gap and lattice
as depicted in Figure 3. AlN can achieve the thinnest parameters.

qΦb
PSP PPE AIGaN d qΦb
PSP PPE AIN d
Barrier ∆EV ∆EV
Barrier

2DEG ∆EC 2DEG ∆EC

PSP PSP
GaN GaN

Buffer Layer Buffer Layer

Substrate Substrate
EC EF EV EC EF EV

Figure 3. The schematic band diagrams of the AlGaN/GaN and AlN/GaN heterostructures.

April 2021 37
 capacitance and resistance to improve the operation other novel gate structures; each of these imaginative
frequency and tolerance for high power. The ohmic approaches would provide us with a creative way to
contact process and channel structure determine the achieve high power, high frequency, and high effi-
characteristics of the parasitic resistance and break- ciency for power devices.
down voltage, which significantly affect the small- T-shaped gates are commonly used in frequencies
and large-signal power characteristics. of 1 ~ 300 GHz simultaneously with a small gate length
and a low gate parasitic resistance [26]. Gate capaci-
Gate Structure Design and Fabrication tance consists of two parts, a parallel plate between
To decrease the resistance of the gate and achieve a high the gate foot and 2DEG and a fringing capacitance
level of f max , researchers have developed a T-shaped between the gate stem, gate head, and access regions,
gate [23], Y-shaped gate [24], self-aligned gate [25], and as demonstrated in Figure 4.
However, as the gate length is fewer than 100  nm,
the traditional exposure process for a T-shaped gate is
too difficult to scale down to match the barrier thick-
εr_AIN/InAIN/GaN = 9 ness. To circumvent this issue, researchers at HRL Lab-
Metal εr_SiON = 5
oratories scaled down the device size with self-aligned
gate technology to achieve a gate length of 20 nm and
G
InAIN 5.1 nm obtained an f T and f max of 450 and 440 GHz, respectively.
S D Four generations of fabricated GaN-based HEMTs are
illustrated in Figure 5 [19].
SiON

Lowering the Parasitic Resistance

To obtain AlGaN/GaN HEMTs with high power and
high efficiency, it is essential to improve the ohmic
167 nm 40 nm 393 nm 200 nm GaN contact characteristics of the devices. There are many
3-nm 2DEG tbar = 2 nm (InAIN + AIN) available techniques to reduce the ohmic contact resis-
“Metal” + 2 nm (2DEG) tance, including regrowth of the ohmic contact region,
all of which aim to enhance the doping concentration
Figure 4. A schematic of a T-shaped gate [27]. SiON: in the materials for a decrease in the ohmic contact
dielectric; S: source; G: gate; D: drain. resistance (R c).

1 µm

Non-Alloyed SiN (50 nm) G

Ohmic Gate 200 nm
40 nm GaN (2.5 nm)/AIN (3.5 nm)
SiN
S D S D
+
n -GaN
GaN (20 nm) n+-GaN (50 nm)
n +-GaN
Rac Rsh Al0.08Ga0.92N
Lsd = 100 nm 20 nm
S.I. SiC Substrate Lateral S-D Scaling 100 nm
(a) (b)

G G
Lg
Lsw Lsw SiN Lgs Lg Lgd
SiN S D
S D
n +-GaN n +-GaN
n +-GaN
3D-2D Ohmic Asymmetric Lgs and Lgd n +-GaN n +-GaN
3D n +-GaN - 2DEG Contact Contact
Lg = 20 nm
Lgs = 20 nm Lgd = 20 nm

(c) (d)

Figure 5. Technology cross sections of HRL Laboratories’ four GaN HEMT scaling generations. (a) Generation I,
(b) generation II, (c) generation III, and (d) generation IV [19].

38 April 2021
 Ion implantation is an indispensable technology ohmic contact HEMTs (POC HEMTs) hold great potential
in Si-based integrated circuits due to its reliability, for high RF efficiency and power applications [33], exhib-
versatility, and ease of manufacturing [28] (Figure 6). iting an ohmic contact resistance of 0.12 X $ mm, a satura-
Employing ion implantation has enabled researchers tion current of 1,130 mA/mm at Vds = 10 V and Vgs = 1 V
to reach the lowest sheet resistance (14 X/sq) and con- (see Figure 8), and a PAE of 71.6% at 5 GHz. After the third
tact resistance (0.02 X $ mm) that have been achieved to harmonic tuning, a PAE of 85.2%, a corresponding power
date [29]. density of 11.2 W/mm, and a power gain of 16.9 dB were
Ohmic contact region regrowth may reduce the con- achieved, as demonstrated in Figure 9.
tact resistance even further to below 0.1 X $ mm . In 2012,
the first report on the temperature dependence and The Suppression of SCEs
physical mechanisms associated with regrowth interface For operation at a higher frequency, from the Ka to the
resistance was published [31]. MBE-regrown non-alloyed W band, a reduction of the short gate is mandatory to
ohmic contact regions were used in the fabrication prevent undesirable SCEs. For transistors at the off-
of InAlN/AlN/GaN HEMTs, as depicted in Figure  7. state, SCEs can be responsible for shifts in the thresh-
A regrowth interface resistance of + 0.05 X $ mm was old voltage, the degradation of pinchoff, an increase in
obtained, which can be further reduced to 1 0.02 X $ mm, subthreshold swing, and an increase in drain-induced
according to the quantum contact resistance theory. barrier lowering. For transistors at the on-state, SCEs
Hole etching (HOE) is another imaginative method can cause an increase in output conductance and the
to decrease the ohmic resistance with a low-cost process. degradation of RF performance.
Many square holes are etched in the source-drain ohmic In the field’s early years, gate-recess technology
region, and then metal titanium (Ti) is used to fill in was an effective way to enhance the gate control by
these deep holes, followed by source-drain ohmic con- decreasing the distance from the gate to channel,
tact formation with Ti/Al/nickel (Ni)/gold (Au). Anneal- improving the aspect ratio, and mitigating SCEs. In
ing makes the Ti metal react with the N element on the 2010, a report on gate-recessed AlGaN/GaN HEMTs
AlGaN surface; at the same time, the concentration of demonstrated an f max of 300 GHz [17]. To achieve a high
the Ti is effectively increased by the etch area because f max , low-damage gate-recessed etching, scaled device
of the blanking of the hole space and the increase in the geometry, and recessed source-drain ohmic contacts
contact area. were used to enable minimum SCEs and ultralow par-
The first report on the HOE process for GaN-based asitic resistances. In 2018, an article reported a high-
HEMTs was published in 2018 [32]. The resulting patterned temperature gate recess technique to fabricate 0.2-µm

900
Vgs From 1 to –7 V Implanted HEMT
800
Control
1 V/Step
700
Drain Current (mA /mm)

600

500
(a) 400

300

200

100

0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
Drain Voltage (V)
(c)
(b)

Figure 6. (a) Optical images of the Ti/Al/Ni/Au (250 Å/1,500 Å/375 Å/500 Å) ohmic contact after alloying at 870 °C for
30 s. (b) Optical images of the as-deposited Ti/Al/Ni/Au (250 Å/1,500 Å/375 Å/500 Å) ohmic contact above the Si-implanted
region. (c) The current–voltage characteristics of the implanted AlGaN/GaN HEMT with non-alloyed contacts and the control
AlGaN/GaN HEMT with alloyed contacts [30].

April 2021 39
 T-shaped gate millimeter-wave AlGaN/GaN HEMTs, In recent years, a fin gate structure (or tri-gate
showing an f T and f max of 81 and 194 GHz, respec- structure or nanowire channel structure) has been
tively, a PAE of 42.8%, and, importantly, a high output proposed as an alternative approach to improve the
power density of 5.1 W/mm at 35 GHz in continuous- gate controllability of GaN HEMTs. Figure 11 depicts
wave mode [34]. Figure 10 portrays the improvement the schematic structure of AlGaN/GaN fin HEMTs.
in small-signal characteristics and power performance A general advantage of the fin structure over the
achieved using the proposed high-temperature gate- conventional planar gate is that the improved elec-
recess technique. trostatics can enhance the gate controllability and

Metal Metal
Metal Metal d2
L d L

R 1 n+ GaN GaN R1 R1 R1
InAIN n+
n+ GaN

R2 R3 2DEG R3 R2
GaN Buffer
GaN Buffer

(a) (b)

Ohmic Metal

d′
Regrown GaN

d
Regrowth Interface

GaN Buffer

(c) (d)

Figure 7. The schematics of (a) the MBE-regrown contact transmission line model (TLM) pattern on an InAlN HEMT
heterostructure and (b) the MBE-regrown n+ GaN (control). (c) A scanning electron microscope (SEM) top view of the TLM
pattern on the HEMT and (d) a SEM image of the regrowth cross section in the HEMT (another sample with thicker regrown
n+ GaN) [31].

1,000 400
Conventional HEMT Conventional HEMT vgs From –3 V to 1 V,
1,200 +1 V Steps
POC HEMT POC HEMT
800 vds –10 V
300
900
Gm (mS/mm)
Ids (mA /mm)
Ids (mA /mm)

600 Gm
200 600
400 Ids

100 300
200

0 0
–4 –3 –2 –1 0 0 2 4 6 8 10
Vgs(V) Vds(V)
(a) (b)

Figure 8. The (a) transfer and (b) output characteristics of the POC HEMT and the conventional HEMT [33].

40 April 2021
 45
45 100 POC HEMT: 85.2% PAE, 11.2 W/mm, 16.9 dB 100
POC HEMT: 71.6% PAE, 10.4 W/mm, 16.2 dB
PAE 80 40 vD = 40 V, f = 5 GHz, CW, Third Harmonic Tuning
40 vD = 40 V, f = 5 GHz, CW
80

Pout (dBm), Gain (dB)

Pout (dBm), Gain (dB)

35 60 35
PAE
Pout Pout 60

PAE (%)
PAE (%)
40 30
30
40
20 25
25
Gain 20
Gain 0 20
20
0
–20 POC HEMT
15 POC HEMT 15
Conventional HEMT –40 Conventional HEMT –20
10 10
6 8 10 12 14 6 8 10 12 14
Pin (dBm) Pin (dBm)
(a) (b)

Figure 9. A comparison of the microwave power performance of a POC HEMT and a conventional HEMT in continuous-
wave (CW) mode at 5 GHz with (a) fundamental frequency matching and (b) third harmonic tuning [33].

50 fT = 58 GHz 50 fT = 81 GHz
fmax = 138 GHz fmax = 194 GHz
40 40
Slope: –20 dB/dec Slope: –20 dB/dec
VDS = 10 V VDS = 10 V
Gain (dB)
Gain (dB)

30 30

20 20

10 10

0 0
1E8 1E9 1E10 1E11 1E8 1E9 1E10 1E11
Frequency (Hz) Frequency (Hz)
(a) (b)
30 35 30 45

40
30
Pout (dBm) and Gain (dB)

25 25
PAE = 42.8% 35
PAE = 29.6%
Pout (dBm) and Gain (dB)

Pout = 27.1 dBm

Pout = 26.4 dBm 25 30
20 20
50 µm*2 at 35 GHz 50 µm*2 at 35 GHz
20 VCS = 25 V
PAE (%)
PAE (%)

VCS = 25 V 25
15 15 Pout (dBm)
Pout (dBm)
20
Gain (dB) 15 Gain (dB)
10 PAE (%) 10 PAE (%) 15
10
10
5 5
5 5

0 0 0 0
6 9 12 15 18 21 6 9 12 15 18 21
Pin (dBm) Pin (dBm)
(c) (d)

Figure 10. The small- and large-signal characteristics of the fabricated HEMTs at Vds = 10 V, Vgs = −0.8 V with gate recessed
at (a) 20 °C and (b) 160 °C [34].

April 2021 41
 the effective suppression of SCEs [35], [36]. The
mentioned investigations show that a tradeoff
should be made between frequency characteristics
Drain
and SCEs when considering the fin gate structure
for HEMTs.
Lfin Gate
MMICs Based on GaN-HEMTs
Wfin Applications of GaN devices combined with an MMIC
are becoming very popular. The advantages of the
Source
GaN material give GaN MMICs a bright future,
AIGaN
GaN Buffer with GaN-based MMICs rapidly being developed in
Substrate recent years. In 2004, the first GaN-based millimeter-
wave MMIC power amplifier in coplanar waveguide
(a) topology was reported; the saturated output power
approached 1.6 W at 33 GHz [38]. After that, research-
ers turned their attention to W-band devices. In 2010,
Drain
HRL Laboratories reported a W-band GaN MMIC
operating at the frequency of 88 GHz, in which
Fin Region
the power amplifier module adopted 0.15-nm gate
length HEMTs, as demonstrated in Figure 12. The
chip attained a Pout of 842 mW associated with a PAE
of 14.7% and a power gain of 9.3 dB at a drain bias of
14 V [39].
Fujitsu has reported a W-band MMIC power ampli-
Source fier based on 80-nm gate length InAlGaN/GaN HEMTs.
(b)
The two-stage MMIC power amplifier achieved a Pout
of 1.15 W and a PAE of 12.3% at 86 GHz, as depicted in
Figure 13 [40].
Drain
Recently, a three-stage W-band MMIC power
amplifier using 100-nm gate length and 4 × 30-μm
gate width AlGaN/GaN HEMTs was reported, where
Gate the configuration included a 120-μm-wide input stage,
a 240-μm-wide second stage (two basic unit cells), and
a 480-μm-wide output stage (four basic unit cells), as
Source

35

(c)
30
Pout (dBm), Gain (dB), PAE (%)

Pout
25
Figure 11. (a) The schematic structure of AlGaN/GaN
fin HEMTs, (b) an SEM image of the top view of the gate 20
region, and (c) an SEM image of the top view of the in- Gain
15
HEMT [37].

10
PAE
5

0
–5 0 5 10 15 20 25
Pin (dBm)

Figure 13. The large-signal characteristics of Pout, gain,

Figure 12. The layout of a W-band GaN MMIC chip and PAE of the W-band MMIC power amplifier at 86 GHz,
reported in [39]. biased at 20 V [40].

42 April 2021
illustrated in Figure 14 [41]. Figure 15 indicates that the
MMIC operated at 93 GHz and exhibits a Pout of 1.66 W Three-Stage MMIC Power Amplifier, Wout = 480 µm
in continuous-wave mode, associated with a PAE of 21% Pout = 32.2 dBm
32
at 14 V.

Psat (dBm)
30

Pout (dBm), PAE (%), Gain (dB)

30
28
PAE = 21%
The Reliability of GaN-Based RF Devices 26
85 90 95 100
The reliability of GaN-based RF devices is assessed 20 Frequency (GHz)

primarily through current collapse and gate leakage. For

GaN-based HEMTs, a current collapse would induce a
serious drain current reduction, knee voltage walkout, 10
and RF transconductance degradation, all of which limit Pout Gain = 13.7 dB
PAE
the output power and PAE of the devices. To solve this Gain
problem, a dielectric layer or plasma treatment has been f = 93 GHz
0
proposed to passivate the device surface and so sup-
press the current collapse. Among the different passiv- –10 0 10 20
ation methods, the deposition of SiN and AlN is mainly Pin (dBm)
used in RF devices for power performance, whereas the
plasma treatment is used for ultrahigh-frequency HEMTs Figure 15. The large-signal power, gain, and PAE of the
to improve the frequency performance. W-band power amplifier MMIC at 93 GHz [41].
SiN is the most commonly used passivation layer to
mitigate current collapse. Almost all of the high-perfor-
mance GaN-based power devices have been achieved
30
using SiN passivation deposited by plasma-enhanced
Output Power After Passivation
chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) technology. In Output Power Before Passivation
2000, an SiN passivation layer deposited by PECVD
Output Power (dBm)

was proposed for the surface passivation of HEMTs to 25

reduce the surface effects responsible for limiting the
RF current. Measurements at 4 GHz demonstrated an 60
50
increased output power density from 1 to 2 W/mm and Power–Added
Effect (%) 40
a PAE from 36 to 46% with 15 V operation voltage, as 20 30
displayed in Figure 16 [42]. 20
10 PAE After Passivation
Low-pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) 0
PAE Before Passivation

0 5 10 15
is also utilized for the SiN passivation of HEMTs, with Input Power (dBm)
15
typical deposition temperatures above 600 °C, which 0 5 10 15
is desirable for the strategy of a “passivation-prior-to- Input Power (dBm)
ohmic” process. It also serves as a protective layer for
the rapid thermal annealing process. As illustrated Figure 16. The power performance of an HEMT before and
in Figure 17, no cracks appear in the gate edge in the after passivation at 4 GHz at a bias point of Vd = 15 V [42].
LPCVD-SiN passivation layer after the ohmic alloying,
and a well-ordered and continuous interface layer is
sustained at the SiN/AlGaN interface, indicating good
thermal stability of the SiN layer [43]. LP
100 nm CV
Figure 18 demonstrates that PECVD-SiN HEMTs D
Cr –S
exhibit moderate current collapse suppression at a ys iN
Glue Re tall x
drain bias of 30 V, while LPCVD-SiN passivation can gio ei n
Au n
provide good passivation performance even at a drain
Al
G
aN
LPCVD–SiNx
Ni
5 nm
GaN AlGaN
(a) (b)

Figure 17. (a) A transmission electron microscopy (TEM)

cross section of the gate edge in an LPCVD-SiN-passivated
Figure 14. A chip photograph of the fabricated AlGaN/ HEMT. (b) A high-resolution TEM of the LPCVD-SiN/
GaN three-stage MMIC power amplifier [41]. AlGaN interface [43].

April 2021 43
 bias of 50 V. Measurements also show that the Pout and a nd the change of knee voltage can be negligible,
PAE of the LPCVD-SiN passivated HEMTs are 6.8 W/ indicating a good suppression of current collapse by
mm and 63.2%, respectively, at 4 GHz with Vds = 30 V. AlN passivation.
SiN passivation needs to be combined with the To achieve high-speed and high-frequency devices,
gate field plate to minimize knee voltage walkout another important consideration is to minimize the
and dynamic R on . To circumvent both of these, pas- parasitic capacitance. Although an SiN or AlN pas-
sivation using an AlN thin film grown by plasma- sivation layer can suppress current collapse, it can also
enhanced atomic layer deposition (ALD) has been inevitably increase the gate parasitic capacitance and
proposed [44], [45]. Combined with in situ plasma degrade the frequency performance. Therefore, a dielec-
treatment, AlN passivation can effectively suppress tric-free passivation (DFP) process has been proposed,
current collapse, knee voltage walkout, and dynamic where the access region is treated with plasma to pas-
R on , especially at a high drain voltage. A sharp inter- sivate the surface state so as to suppress the current
face between AlN and AlGaN can be observed in collapse. In particular, it minimizes the gate parasitic
Figure 19(a), and a low oxygen concentration occur- capacitance [46]. As a result, an HEMT using DFP to
ring near the AlN/AlGaN interface can be detected in form the configuration with only 5.5% gate lag and
Figure 19(b) using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy 3.7% drain lag showed an increase in f T from 125 to
measurement. It can reduce the oxygen-induced slow 210 GHz, as indicated in Figure 21.
response interface states. High gate-leakage current is another key issue for
Figure 20 illustrates a comparison of the out- GaN-based power HEMTs. For RF devices, a high
put characteristics between SiN- and AlN-passivated
HEMTs. It is clear that the AlN-passivated HEMT exhib-
its a very small discrepancy of I ds - Vds characteristics
between the step-up and step-down measurements,
Glue

0.8
Vgs: –3 V ~ 3 V, 3-V Step 10 nm AIN
0.6
Id (A /mm)

PECVD
0.4 16.3%

AlGaN
0.2
(0, 0) V (–5, 30) V
(–5, 0) V (–5, 50) V 5 nm
0
(a)
0 2 4 6 8 10
Vds (V)
50 10-nm ALD-AIN
(a)
Atomic Concentration (%)

0.8
40
(0, 0) V C 1s
0.6 (–5, 0) V 30 N 1s
(–5, 30) V
Id (A /mm)

O 1s
5.5% (–5, 50) V 20
0.4 Al 2p
Ga 3d
10
0.2 LPCVD
Vgs: –3 V ~ 3 V, 3-V Step
0
0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
0 2 4 6 8 10 Sputtering Depth (nm)
Vds (V) (b)
(b)

Figure 19. (a) A TEM cross-section view of the interface

Figure 18. The pulsed current–voltage characteristics of between the AlN and AlGaN/GaN samples. (b) The atomic
(a) PECVD-SiN and (b) LPCVD-SiN HEMTs [43]. profiles in the AlN/AlGaN/GaN structure [45].

44 April 2021
 AIGaN/GaN Vgs Step = ± 0.5 V: AIN-Passivated
400 HEMT(S1) From 0 to –3 V 400 AIGaN/GaN HEMT(S3)
From –3 to 0 V
300 300 Vgs Step = ± 0.5 V:

Id (mA /mm)
Id (mA /mm)

From 0 to –3 V
200 200 From –3 to 0 V

100 100

0 0
0 2 4 6 8 10 0 2 4 6 8 10
Vds (V) Vds (V)
(a) (b)

Figure 20. The output characteristics of the (a) SiN-passivated HEMT and (b) AlN-passivated HEMT [45].

2.5
60 –20 dB/dec Without DFP
Vgs = 0 V
Vgs/Vds = –4.1/4 V
fT /fmax = 125/46 GHz 2
50
With DFP
Vgs/Vds = –4/4.8 V
40 1.5
fT /fmax = 210/55 GHz
Id (A /mm)
Gain (dB)

30
1
Bias Point:
20 dc
Lg ~ 60 nm
(Vgs, Vds) = (0, 0)
0.5 (Vgs, Vds) = (–10 V, 0)
10 I |h21|2
(Vgs, Vds) = (–10 V, 10 V)
I U
0 0
108 109 1010 1011 0 2 4 6 8 10
Frequency (Hz) Vds (V)
(a) (b)

Figure 21. (a) The small-signal characteristics of HEMTs with and without DFP. (b) The pulsed current–voltage
characteristics after DFP [46].

gate-leakage current is detrimental to breakdown

voltage, PAE, and gate voltage swing. As displayed
in Figure 22, all of the devices with the same hetero- 60
structure design and gate periphery demonstrate dra- 50
matically degraded PAE when the gate current density
PAE (%)

exceeds 2.5 mA/mm [47]. Therefore, reducing the gate 40

leakage is essential to improving performance under
30
high power.
An effective method for solving this problem is to 20
insert an insulator layer between the gate electrode
and barrier layer. In the fabrication of RF-powered 10
HEMTs, there are two main methods: ALD-formed 10–3 10–2 10–1 100 101 102
dielectric and plasma oxidation-formed dielectric. Igs (mA)
In 2011, a gate-recessed GaN MOS HEMT was pro-
posed, where the low-damage gate recess allowed Figure 22. The relationship between PAE and gate leakage [47].

April 2021 45
 for a reduction in the gate channel distance, followed 4 GHz were achieved. It was the best microwave per-
by a 5-nm Al 2 O 3 dielectric deposition using ALD, formance reported at 4 GHz at that time, suggesting
as shown in Figure 23 [48]. A maximum power den- that gate dielectric was very promising for high-fre-
sity of 13 W/mm and an associated PAE of 73% at quency HEMTs.

LG LFp
90
13 W/mm, 73% PAE
Al2O3 30 Vd = 45 V, f = 4 GHz 80
Class B

Pout (dBm), Gain (dB)

70
SiN 25
60

PAE (%)
20-nm Al0.3Ga0.7N Pout
20 50
1-nm AIN Interlayer
PAE 40
1.6-µm GaN Buffer 15 Gain 30
100 nm AIN Nucleation Layer 20
10
SiC Substrate 10
5 0
6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Pin (dBm)
(a) (b)

Figure 23. (a) A schematic cross section of a gate-recessed MOS HEMT. (b) The power performance of a GaN MOS HEMT
at 4 GHz [48].

Ni

Oxide

AlGaN

5 nm
(a)

102 104 500

Transconductance (mS/mm)

101 103 Ion/Ioff = 1.3 × 108

Drain Current (mA /mm)
Gate Current (mA /mm)

100 102 400

10–1 101
10–2 100 300
10–3 10–1
10–4 10–2 200
10–3
10–5 10–4
10–6 100
10–5
10–7 10–6
10–8 10–7 0
–10 –8 –6 –4 –2 0 2 –6 –4 –2 0 2
Gate Voltage (V) Gate Voltage (V)
Non-Recess Non-Recess
Recess Gate Without Plasma Treatment Recess Gate Without Plasma Treatment
Recess Gate With Plasma Treatment Recess Gate With Plasma Treatment

(b) (c)

Figure 24. (a) A TEM image of a plasma treatment-formed oxide on an AlGaN barrier. (b) The Schottky characteristics of
HEMTs. (c) The transfer characteristics of HEMTs [21].

46 April 2021
 30 50 30
6 W/mm, 46.8% PAE 4.25 W/mm, 3.4% PAE 35
25 Vds = 25 V, Frequency = 30 GHz 25 Vds = 25 V, Frequency = 30 GHz
40 30
Pout (dBm), Gain (dB)

Pout (dBm), Gain (dB)

20 Pout 20 Pout 25
30

PAE (%)

PAE (%)
20
15 15 PAE
PAE 15
20
10 Gain 10
Gain 10
10 5
5 5
0
0 0 0
3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24
Pin (dBm) Pin (dBm)
(a) (b)

Figure 25. The large-signal performance at 30 GHz (a) with and (b) without the plasma treatment HEMTs [21].

However, the use of the additional dielectric layer Acknowledgments

inevitably reduces the transconductance, increases the This work was supported by the National Key R&D
complexity of the gate processing, and decreases the Program of China under grant 2020YFB1804902, in part
yield rate of GaN HEMT fabrication. For these reasons, by the National Natural Science Foundation of China
an N 2 O plasma treatment process for AlGaN/GaN under grant 61904135, in part by the China Post-
millimeter-wave-powered HEMTs was developed doctoral Science Foundation under grants 2018M640957
[21]. Measurements have shown that a thin oxide layer and BX20200262, and i n part by the Nat ure Sci-
formed on the gate region led to a gate-leakage current ence Foundation of Shaanxi Province under grant
of at least three orders of magnitude lower than that of 2020JQ-316.
conventional HEMTs, resulting in an ultralow off-state
current of 9.4 # 10 -7 mA/mm accompanied by an on/ References
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48 April 2021
 Recent
Progress
in SISL Circuits
and Systems
Kaixue Ma, Ningning Yan, and Yongqiang Wang
©SHUTTERSTOCK.COM/ANTARTSTOCK

W
ith the rapid development of mod- the most basic component of microwave and mm-wave
ern communication and radar circuits and systems, and its characteristics—includ-
technology, there is a need for the ing loss, size, integration, cost, and weight—directly or
miniaturization, planarization, and indirectly affect the performance of the entire circuit and
modularization of microwave and mil- system. Commonly used transmission lines [1] include
limeter-wave (mm-wave) systems, without losing excel- nonplanar transmission lines, such as a metal wave-
lent performance and reliability. The transmission line is guide and coaxial line, and planar transmission lines,

Kaixue Ma ([email protected]), Ningning Yan ([email protected]), and

Yongqiang Wang ([email protected]) are with the Tianjin Key Laboratory of Imaging and
Sensing Microelectronics Technology and the School of Microelectronics, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China.

Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MMM.2020.3047748

Date of current version: 2 March 2021

April 2021 1527-3342/21©2021IEEE 49

 such as a microstrip, strip line, coplanar waveguide, integrated suspended line (SISL), which can be treated
and slot line. as a quasi-planar transmission line using a multilayer
A metal waveguide usually has the advantages of fabrication process, has been proposed based on our U.S.
a high quality factor (Q), good temperature character- patent [9]. It is an excellent platform for self-packaged,
istics, and high power capacity, and it is widely used high-performance, cost-effective circuits and systems—
in military communication, ground-based radar, and especially for the microwave and mm-wave bands. The
base stations. However, it has disadvantages, such as a proposed SISL platform retains all of the performance
large size, bulky structure, and complex assembly pro- merits of the waveguide suspended line while overcom-
cess. Compared with a metal waveguide, a coaxial line ing its drawbacks. Moreover, it also has the advantages
has the merits of small size, light weight, good reli- of high-density integration and can be self-packaged for
ability, and low cost, but the loss is relatively large, and both passive and active circuits and systems.
the power capacity is small. In addition, both a metal Herein, we compare the SISL and SIW. Both feature
waveguide and coaxial line are difficult to integrate good properties and can be fabricated using a printed cir-
with other circuits. A microstrip line has the advan- cuit board (PCB) process. Since a SISL usually has at least
tages of a low profile, small size, light weight, and low three board layers, its fabrication cost is higher than that
cost. However, the properties of low power capacity, of a single-board SIW. However, due to their multilayer
radiation loss, and a lack of self-packaging limit its structure with air cavities, the self-packaging and inte-
applications in many fields. A substrate integrated gration flexibility with lumped components or integrated
waveguide (SIW) [2], [3], similar to those of a metal circuit chips of SISLs are better than those of SIWs.
waveguide filled with substrate, has been proposed in The propagation models of the SIW and SISL are
recent years and has attracted much attention due to completely different. The main propagation mode of the
its planar structure and good characteristics. SIW is the transverse electric (TE)10 mode, while SISL
A suspended line has proven to be an excellent trans- mainly supports the transverse electromagnetic (TEM),
mission line in terms of low loss, weak dispersion, and quasi-TEM, or other modes. Therefore, it is easier to
high power capacity, and it is widely used in design- connect a SISL directly with other planar transmission
ing filters and other microwave devices [4]–[8]. How- lines, such as a microstrip and coplanar waveguide.
ever, it needs to be machined as a metal box and then In addition, the electric field of an SIW is mainly
assembled, so the overall structure is bulky and not distributed in the dielectric, while the electric field of
easy to integrate with other planar circuits. A substrate an SISL is mainly distributed in the air cavity. There-
fore, the dielectric loss of an SISL will be lower than
that of an SIW. Recently, it was reported that an air-
Metalized filled SIW [10] significantly reduces dielectric loss, but
Vias
G1
it uses a multilayer board structure, and its cost and
Substrate 1
G2 volume also increase as compared to a single-board
SIW. In this article, the basic SISL concept and struc-
G3 Air Cavity Substrate 2 ture are reviewed, followed by an examination of sev-
G4
4
Integrated
Circuit Chip Patterned Metal Portion eral cases of SISL passive and active circuit design and
G5
5 Substrate 3 subsystem implementation.
G6
Capacitor
G7 Air Cavity Substrate 4 SISL Circuits and Systems
G8
G9 Substrate 5 SISL Transmission Lines
G10 The typical SISL structure is composed of several lay-
Metalized Vias
ers of PCBs, some of which are hollow. According to
(a)
the requirements of the design, one or more layers of
Air Cavity boards are partly removed to create various air cavi-
G1
Substrate 1 ties. On the one hand, these air cavities are used to
G2
Patterned Metal realize the suspended line structure. On the other
hand, specific microwave devices, chips, or dc control
G9 and power supply circuits can be introduced on the top
Substrate 5
G10 and bottom layers of air cavities or in the interior of
Metalized Vias Metalized Vias an air cavity. EM shielding is achieved by utilizing a
(b)
dielectric copper coating and metalized via holes.
Figure 1. The typical structure of an SISL: (a) 3D and (b) Figure 1 shows the typical five-layer SISL struc-
side views. ture, which contains five layers of PCBs, designated as

50 April 2021
substrates 1–5, and 10 metal layers, designated as G1– is distributed in the air cavity, resulting in very low
G10. Substrates 2 and 4 are hollowed out to form air dielectric loss and almost no radiation loss. In addi-
cavities, and the core circuit is designed on substrate 3. tion, we partially removed the dielectric of substrate 3
Substrates 1 and 5 are used as cover plates, so there is to further reduce dielectric loss [11], [12]. We also con-
no need to manufacture an additional metal box. The nected G5 and G6 to form a double-sided SISL (DSISL)
SISL circuits can be fabricated by multilayer PCB tech- [13] (Figure 2), which helps reduce conductor loss.
nology or multilayer low-temperature cofired ceramic
technology. Therefore, SISL has the advantages of low
loss, compact size, light weight, high integration, and
self-packaging.
M1
Generally, the signal trace of an SISL is designed on
one side of the middle substrate (that is, the G5 layer), Substrate 1
M2
and the ground layers are G2 and G9, which are con-
M3
nected by the via holes through all five boards. Thus,
most of the electric field of an SISL transmission line Substrate 2 M4
M5

Substrate 3 M6
Via Substrate 1 M7

Air G5 Substrate 2 Substrate 4 M8

Substrate 3 M9

Air Substrate 4 Substrate 5

G6 M10

Substrate 5 (a)

(a)

Via Substrate 1

Air G5 Substrate 2

Substrate 3
Air Substrate 4

Substrate 5

(b) (b)
0
Figure 2. A cross-sectional view of the (a) DSISL and (b) Measured S11
single-layer SISL. (Source: [13].) –10 Measured S21
Simulated S11
Magnitude (dB)

–20 Simulated S21

60 0.2
50 0.16 –30
40
β (rad/m)

α (Np/m)

0.12
30
0.08 –40
20
10 0.04
0 0 –50
0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 0 5 10 15 20 25
Frequency (GHz) Frequency (GHz)
(c)
DSISL Single-Layer SISL
Figure 4. SISL-to-microstrip transitions. (a) A 3D view.
Figure 3. The phase and attenuation constants of the (Source: [15].) (b) A photograph. (Source: [12].) (c) The
DSISL and single-layer SISL. (Source: [13].) results. (Source: [12].) M: metal.

April 2021 51
 As shown in Figure 3, both the phase and attenua- multiplexers, couplers, dividers, magic tees (magic-Ts),
tion constants of the DSISL are smaller than those of and baluns, and they show very good performance,
a single-layer SISL. Therefore, by using a double-sided thus demonstrating the advantages and feasibility of
metal trace, patterned substrate, and EM shielding the SISL platform.
enclosure, the loss of the SISL can be very low [14].

SISL Passive Components and Circuits

A variety of SISL-based passive components and cir-
cuits have been proposed, including transitions, filters, B A Offset/2
Standard WR-15
b
Waveguide Offset/2
WR-28
Waveguide
M1 L2 L1
Substrate 1 M2 a
h1 = 1.8 mm Wch W1 W2 W3 W4
Hollowed M3
Substrate 2 M4 L3L4
h2 = 0.6 mm Offset/2
M5
Substrate 3 M6
H2
h3 = 0.254 mm
M7 Via Holes B A
Substrate 4 Hollowed
H1 M8
h4 = 0.6 mm L1 Offset/2
Hollowed M9
Substrate 5 M10 (a)
h5 = 1.8 mm
M11
Substrate 6 M12
h1 = 0.6 mm
Waveguide Short Plane
(a)

(b)
0

–10
S-Parameter (dB)

(b)

0 0
–1 –20
–5
–2
–10
–3 –30
–15 –4
S11 (dB)

S21 (dB)

–20 –5
–25 –6 –40
–7 50 55 60 65 70 75
–30 Frequency (GHz)
–8
–35 Measured
Measured S11
Simulated –9 Measured S21
–40 –10 Simulated S11
24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 Simulated S21
Frequency (GHz) Adapters S11
(c) (c)
Figure 5. The Ka-band SISL-to-RWG transition: (a) a 3D
view, (b) a photograph, and (c) the results. WR: rectangular Figure 6. The V-band SISL-to-RWG transition:
waveguides; H: height; L: length; h: the board thickness. (a) a planar view, (b) a photograph, and (c) the results.
(Source: [16].) (Source: [17].)

52 April 2021
Transitions increase the bandwidth. It shows a broad bandwidth
To test the self-packaged SISL circuit and integrate it of 43.9%, from 48 to 75 GHz. All of these transitions
with other kinds of transmission lines (for example, a are fabricated using PCB technology and show good
microstrip line and coplanar waveguide), transitions properties of self-packaging, light weight, and low
with high performance are needed. The researchers manufacturing cost.
in [15] introduce an SISL-to-microstrip transition that
includes three parts (i.e., a suspended line, strip line, Filters
and microstrip line). As is shown in the back-to-back The suspended line has proven to be highly suitable for
transition in Figure 4(a), the impedance of each part designing high-Q filters [5], and the SISL-based filters
is optimized to 50 Ω for continuity. Its operating fre- achieve better properties in terms of self-packaging
quency band is from dc to 8 GHz, which is mainly lim- and compact size. In [18], the researchers report an SISL
ited by the SubMiniature version A connectors used. bandpass filter (BPF) with controllable transmission
Using 2.92-mm end launch connectors [Figure 4(b)], the zeros (TZs), as shown in Figure 7. It contains a circular
bandwidth has been expanded to more than 20 GHz patch with degenerate modes separated and controlled
[Figure 4(c)] [12]. by two embedded notches. The TZs are introduced by
In [16], a Ka-band transition from an SISL to a rect- the source-to-load coupling and separated electric and
angular waveguide (RWG) is proposed, as shown in magnetic coupling. Fabricated with a PCB process, the
Figure 5. It adopts a T-shaped patch for bandwidth self-packaged SISL BPF has an insertion loss of 1.4 dB
enhancement, and the back-to-back transition is and a compact size of 0.55 × 0.55 m g, where m g is the
from 24.6 to 38.5 GHz (i.e., a fractional bandwidth guided wavelength at 5.5 GHz.
of 44%). Using this design topology, Chen et al. [17] Dual-band BPFs (DBBPFs) with low loss and com-
present an SISL-to-RWG transition operating at the pact size are preferred for dual-band wireless commu-
V band (Figure 6). The dimensions of the air cavi- nication systems. A variety of DBBPF topologies based
ties are tuned to suppress high-order modes so as to on the SISL have been proposed [19]–[22], all of which

M1 (FR4 Epoxy)
Air Cavity M2 Substrate 1 (0.6 mm)
M3 (FR4 Epoxy)
Substrate 2 (2 mm)
M4
M5 (Rogers RT/Duroid 5880)
Substrate 3 (0.254 mm)
Air Cavity M6
M7 (FR4 Epoxy)
Substrate 4 (2 mm)
M8
M9 (FR4 Epoxy)
Substrate 5 (0.6 mm)
M10
(a) (b)

–10 Simulated
Measured S11
S-Parameter (dB)

–20

–30

–40

–50
S21
–60

–70
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Frequency (GHz)
(c)

Figure 7. An SISL BPF: (a) a 3D view, (b) a photograph, and (c) the results. FR: flame retardant. (Source: [18].)

April 2021 53
 feature low loss and self-packaging. Figure 8 shows an stepped impedance resonator (SIR) is introduced. The
SISL DBBPF with multiple TZs for wireless local area size of the DBBPF is a very small 0.12 × 0.1 m g . In addi-
network (WLAN) applications [19]. The short-stub- tion, the passbands are controllable. Therefore, the men-
loaded resonator is on the G6 layer, and the modified tioned DBBPFs demonstrate potential for miniaturizing
feed lines are on the G5 layer. The measured insertion and dual-band filter designs.
loss values at the dual bands (2.4/5.2 GHz) are 0.59 and Lumped elements help reduce the circuit size at
0.55 dB, respectively. In [21], a miniature SISL DBBPF low frequency, and the SISL provides a self-packaged
with a controllable multimode resonator based on a platform, which is very suitable for designing quasi-
lumped-element circuits. The authors of [23] present the
design of an SISL low-pass filter (LPF) and high-pass
filter (HPF) using quasi-lumped elements (Figure 9).
Compensated interdigital capacitors [24] and spiral
inductors [12] are used to obtain very compact sizes of
0.18 × 0.082 m g and 0.108 × 0.085 m g for the LPF and
L3 S2 HPF, respectively. For the LPF, a wide stopband of 32 fc
L4 is obtained, where fc is the cutoff frequency.
L2 S1
The codesign of switches and filters has attracted
L5
L7 much attention recently [25], [26]. An SISL self-pack-
L6
L1
aged switchable BPF with compact size and low loss
reported in [27] combines a single-pole, double-throw
switch and a BPF, as shown in Figure 10. Commercial
p-i-n diodes are utilized as the control elements, and
the used resonators are smaller than a quarter wave-
length. At the center frequency of 1 GHz, the insertion
Substrate G5 G6 Postwall Irises
loss at turn-on is 0.9 dB, and the isolation at turn-off is
(a)
higher than 40 dB. The core circuit size is 0.09 ×
0.04 m g . Both the passive elements and diodes are
1 2 packaged inside the multilayer structure, and it fea-
tures high integration and compact size.
3
4 5
Multiplexers
Multiplexers are key elements for multiservices and
multistandards to separate or combine different filter
channels [28]–[30]. The function of a duplexer is to iso-
late the transmitted and received signals and ensure
that the reception and transmission can work at the
(b)
same time. The authors of [31] propose an SISL duplexer
0 that adopts two BPFs corresponding to the transmitter
S21 and receiver bands (Figure 11). Each BPF is composed
of an LPF and an HPF. The center frequencies of the
–20 two bands are 0.8 and 2.5 GHz, respectively. Using a
S-Parameter (dB)

patterned suspended substrate, the duplexer achieves

S11 a low loss of 0.23/0.25 dB at two bands.
–40 In [32], an SISL triplexer is proposed, as shown in
Figure 12. It is designed based on two duplexers, with
multiple matching networks connecting the BPFs. The
–60 Measured
SISL triplexer has merits of low loss and high isolation
Simulated
compared with the other triplexers listed in Table 1.
0 2 4 6 8 10
Frequency (GHz)
Couplers
(c) The coupler is one of the most important passive
components in microwave and mm-wave front-end
Figure 8. An SISL DBBPF: (a) a 3D view, (b) a circuits. Directivity is an important index of coupler
photograph, and (c) the results. (Source: [19].) 1 (in circle)–5 performance, and it can be expressed by the specific
(in circle) represent the first through fifth board layers. performance parameters of return loss and isolation.

54 April 2021
Several kinds of SISL couplers have been developed. Figure 14 shows the low-loss SISL patch coupler
An SISL compact branch-line coupler that achieves a proposed in [38]. Cross slots with squares on each end
62% size reduction by using a slow-wave structure is are etched on the G5 and G6 layers, and via holes are
introduced in [33]. utilized to connect the G5 and G6 layers. Dielectric
A tandem coupler with high performance (Figure 13) loss is reduced by removing a portion of the substrate.
is proposed in [34]. With the goals of strong coupling The measured insertion loss is very low: only about
and high directivity, the method of simultaneously 0.15 dB.
loading open stubs and cascading is adopted. The Differential or balanced circuits have high immu-
operating frequency band is from 1 to 3.5 GHz, and nity to environmental noise, which has drawn much
the fractional bandwidth is 111%. Return loss and iso- attention. An SISL transformer-based differential
lation of greater than 20 dB and a phase imbalance of coupler is designed in [39] (Figure 15). It contains two
90.5 ± 2.5° are obtained. A performance comparison of pairs of transformers and eight pairs of capacitors.
tandem couplers is listed in Table 2, which shows that By increasing the coupling coefficient of the trans-
the SISL tandem coupler has a wide fractional band- former, the frequency bandwidth of the differential
width, high isolation, low phase imbalance, and low coupler can be improved. It not only achieves 3-dB
loss property compared with other tandem couplers. differential signals at the output but also suppresses

(a) (b)

DIDC

W2 S1
L1 L2
W1

Via Excavated
(c) (d)
0 0
Measured S11 of the SISL HPF
–5 –5
Measured S21 of the SISL HPF
–10 Measured S11 of the SISL HPF
S-Parameter (dB)

S-Parameter (dB)

–10 With Substrate Excavation

–15 Measured S21 of the SISL HPF
Measured S11
–15 With Substrate Excavation
Measured S21
–20
–20
–25

–25 –30

–30 –35
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 0 1 2 3 4 5
Frequency (Hz)
(e) (f)

Figure 9. SISL lumped filters: a (a) planar view and (b) photograph of an LPF; a (c) planar view and (d) photograph of an HPF;
and the results for the (e) LPF and (f) HPF. DIDC: double interdigital capacitor. (Source: [23].)

April 2021 55
 common- and cross-mode signals at the same time. coupling among modules and parasitic effects on the
Lu mp e d ele me nt s, suc h a s t ra n sfor mer s a nd performance of the whole circuit are two dangers that
capacitors, are used to reduce the coupler size. Self- must be mitigated. Thus, it is worth investigating how
packaging, compact size, and controllable band- the couplers, crossovers, phase shifters, and other cir-
width are achieved. cuits can be closely integrated into a single platform
within the Butler matrix while avoiding mutual cou-
Butler Matrices pling and parasitic effects.
A Butler matrix is a multiport beamforming network An SISL low-loss Butler matrix based on patch
that is widely used in communication and radar sys- elements and a honeycomb structure is proposed
tems [40]–[42]. Since Butler matrices usually integrate in [11] (Figure 16). Four couplers, two crossovers,
multiple module circuits into a small area, mutual and four phase shifters are included in the Butler

Port 2

Transition
Filter 1
C3 Filter 1
Vb1
Port 1
C1 Line 3 Ca
C2
Vb2 Line 2 Via
D2
Ca Line 1 D3 D5
D4
Vb3 Line 4 C4
C1 Line 5 Ca
Filter 2 Vb4
C5
Filter 2 M6
M5
Port 3
(a) (b)

Port 3 Port 1 Port 2

C45 C14 C12 C23

k45 k14 k12 k23

L5 Ron L4 Ron L1 L2 L3
Ceq5 Ceq4 Ceq1 Ceq2
k15 k24 k13 Ceq3

Line 5 Line 4 Line 1 Line 2 Line 3

(c) (d)

0 0
S11 Simulated S31 Measured S31
–10 –10
Simulated S32 Measured S32
S11, S21 (dB)

S31, S32 (dB)

–20 –20
S21 S32
–30 –30

–40 –40
S32
–50 Simulated –50
Measured
–60 –60
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 0 0.5 1 1.5 2
Frequency (GHz) Frequency (GHz)
(e) (f)

Figure 10. An SISL switchable BPF: the (a) G5 and (b) G6 layers, (c) the equivalent circuit, (d) a photograph, and the
(e) on-state and (f) off-state responses. C: lumped capacitor; D: p-i-n diode; Ca: lumped tapping capacitor; Vb: bias voltage;
k: magnetic coupling coefficients. (Source: [27].)

56 April 2021
matrix. Patch elements are utilized to design the the system. Most reported LNAs are on chip, while
couplers and crossovers due to their compact topol- a few are discrete-component dual-band LNAs [48],
ogy and low conductor loss. In addition, to achieve [49]. However, the noise figure of a microstrip LNA
isolation bet ween adjacent modules within the is high. An ultralow-noise, dual-band LNA based
Butler matrix, a multicavity honeycomb structure on SISL technology is introduced in [50] for WLAN
is utilized. Each module is located in an indepen- applications, as shown in Figure 20. The matching
dent cavity, and metal via holes are used to isolate networks contain codesigned LC ladders, LC tanks,
the adjacent cavities, which improves the isolation
between modules as well as the integration and
flexibility of the design.
Port 3 Rx
A patterned substrate and double metal layers
with via hole connections are used to reduce dielec-
tric and conductor losses, respectively. An insertion L7 W5
W6
Receiving Signal L8
loss of around 1.1 dB is achieved, from 24.5 to L10
26.5 GHz. In addition, an SISL antenna array is inte- W1 W2
Port 1
grated with the Butler matrix to demonstrate the W3 L5 L6
L3 Antenna
beamforming property. The complete configuration is L2 L1
W4 Matching
illustrated in Figure 17. In addition to the passive cir- L4 Network
cuits mentioned, other passive circuits based on SISLs Transmitting Signal
have also been designed, such as power dividers [43], L9
[44], a balun [24], a magic-T [45], and the modeling of
an SISL inductor [12]. Port 2 Tx Substrate G5 G6 Via
(a)
SISL Active Circuits

Oscillators and Voltage-Controlled Oscillators

In microwave and mm-wave circuits and systems, the
low-phase-noise oscillator is one of the most impor-
tant components. An SISL structure is suitable for the
design of an oscillator due to its high Q. An SISL low-
phase-noise oscillator that utilizes a high-Q resonator
is shown in Figure 18 [46]. By removing the dielectric
substrate and connecting double metal layers, the Q of
the designed cavity resonator is improved to 792. The
SISL oscillator is measured at a 1-MHz offset from a
carrier frequency of 11.87 GHz, and the phase noise is
−133.91 dBc/Hz. (b)
A voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) is a type
of oscillator in which the oscillation frequency is Measured Simulated
0
controlled by the input voltage signal. The low-
phase-noise SISL VCO in Figure 19 is proposed in
S-Parameter (dB)

[47] using high-Q resonators and inductors for low

–50
phase noise. To stabilize the frequency and achieve
compact size, a transformed radial stub resonator is
introduced. The size of the VCO is 0.15 × 0.24 m 0 .
–100
The phase noise is –132 dBc/Hz at a 1-MHz offset
from 4.16 GHz, and the output power is higher than
4.64 dBm.
–150
0 1 2 3 4 5
Low-Noise Amplifiers Frequency (GHz)
The low-noise amplifier (LNA) is the core module (c)
of a wireless receiver, and its function is to amplify
the weak signal received by the antenna. The noise Figure 11. An SISL duplexer: (a) the circuit layout,
figure is the most important performance parame- (b) a photograph, and (c) the results. Rx: receiver; Tx:
ter, and it is used to judge the noise performance of transmitter. (Source: [31].)

April 2021 57
 and transmission lines, which are used to improve compared with other LNAs with chip process or
the noise figure and power gain. A low noise fig- microstrip structures. The LNA has the advantages
ure of 0.7/1.1 dB at 2.45/5.25 GHz is achieved. From of an ultralow noise figure, high power gain, com-
Table 3, we can see that the noise figure is ultralow pact size, and self-packaging.

Port 3
Channel 2
Port 4
Via Holes Channel 3

Matching
Network 1

Matching
Network 2

Metallic Wall
Port 1
Channel 1
Port 2
Substrate G5 G6 Via
(a) (b)
0

–20
S-Parameter (dB)

–40

–60

–80
0 2 4 6 8
Frequency (FHz)

0 0 0

–2 –2 –2
S-Parameter (dB)
S-Parameter (dB)

S-Parameter (dB)

–4 –4 –4

–6 –6 –6

–8 –8 –8

–10 –10 –10

1 2 3 4 4 5 6 7
Frequency (GHz) Frequency (GHz) Frequency (GHz)
Band 1 Band 2 Band 3

Measured S11 Measured S21 Measured S31 Measured S41

Simulated S11 Simulated S21 Simulated S31 Simulated S41

(c)

Figure 12. An SISL triplexer: (a) the circuit layout, (b) a photograph, and (c) the results. (Source: [32].)

58 April 2021
Mixers Power Amplifiers
A balanced mixer can enhance the input matching Power amplifiers (PAs) are widely used in micro-
and improve the isolation between the local oscillator wave and mm-wave systems to amplify the signals.
and RF circuits. In single-balanced mixers, 90° or 180° The goal with a PA is for the output power to be as
hybrids are usually used. An
SISL single-balanced mixer,
TABLE 1. A performance comparison of triplexers.
which includes a 90° phase
shifter and a 90° coupler, is pro- Center
posed in [55]; it is illustrated in Frequency Fractional Insertion Isolation
Figure 21. Right-angled trian- Reference Channel (GHz) Bandwidth (%) Loss (dB) (dB)
gular patches are adopted in [28] 1 1.48 5.35 3.38 >40
the phase shifters, of which
2 1.75 5.6 2.94 >35
the reference and main lines
3 1.98 5.04 3.23 >33
are both designed in patch
form. Three patch-based phase [29] 1 1.5 3.33 4.94 >50
shifters with phase shifts of 2 1.7 2.94 5.82 >56
45°, 60°, and 90° are designed 3 1.9 2.63 5.95 >50
to demonstrate the mixer ’s [30] 1 1.8 14.44 1.3 >30
feasibility, which is multiway 2 2.38 13.45 1.4 >25
and polyphase. Based on this 3 3.73 9.12 1.7 >25
phase shifter, an SISL mixer
This work [32] 1 1 50.1 1.4 >60
with low conversion loss is
2 3 43.33 1.3 >45
designed, and the minimum
conversion loss is 5.8 dB. 3 5.8 43.1 0.8 >35

Transition

Cavity Inside

Via Holes

(a)

0
–5
–10 Simulated S11 Measured S11
Simulated S21 Measured S21
–15 Simulated S31 Measured S31
S-Parameter

Simulated S41 Measured S41

–20
–25
–30
–35
–40
–45
1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5
Front Side
Frequency (GHz)
(b) (c)

Figure 13. An SISL tandem coupler: (a) the circuit layout, (b) a photograph, and (c) the results. (Source: [34].)

April 2021 59
 high as possible. An SISL 20-W PA is proposed in single-layer inductors are included in each BPF. The
[56], as exhibited in Figure 22. To attain an input and operating frequency of the PA is 0.9 GHz, and the
output match, lumped BPF networks are adopted. fractional bandwidth is 22.2%. The simulated maxi-
Two dual-layer interdigital capacitors and three mum power-added efficiency is 49.74%, and the

TABLE 2. A performance comparison of tandem couplers.

Reference [35] [36] [37] This work [34]

Structure type Bonded single layer Multilayer Bonded single layer Multilayer (self-packaging)
Circuit area mm × mm 46 × 41 113 × 52.7 12 × 10 22.3 × 15.5
(W × L)/(mg × mg) 0.065 0.2 0.13 0.02
Substrates FR4 Ro4003C N/A Ro4003C and FR4
Bandwidth (%) 72 124 42 111
Return loss (dB) 10 12 15 20
Isolation (dB) 10 16 15 20
Phase imbalance (°) 90 ± 10 N/A 90 ± 1 90.5 ± 2.5
Loss1 (%) 17.6 9.8 8.2 5
1
Loss: The measured loss at the center frequency is calculated by loss = 1 – |S11|2 – |S21|2 – |S31|2 – |S41|2. N/A: not applicable.

Port 3

Patch Coupler Inside

w3

e
a a
Port 4

l1 w1 w2 s
Port 2

e w02 SISL
l2 b c w01 Patch
Coupler 1

Transition

Port 1
Front Side
G5 G5 and G6 Overlapped Via Holes

(a) (b)

0
–3
S-Parameter (dB)

Simulated Measured
–6
S11 S11
–9 S21 S21
–12 S31 S31
S41 S41
–15
–18
–21
5 5.2 5.4 5.6 5.8 6 6.2 6.4 6.6 6.8 7
Frequency (GHz)

(c)

Figure 14. An SISL patch-based coupler: (a) a planar view, (b) a photograph, and (c) the results. (Source: [38].)

60 April 2021
 Transition
A Port 1 Port 2 B
tw01 tw1
tw02 tw2
l4
wL1 sL1 w4 sw1
sl1
tl1
w2 l2 Port 6
Port 5 t1
C3′ l3
wl2
w1 t2
C1 Air sl2 l1
C1
Cavity

Transformer 2 C4
C3′ w3

Port 8 C2′ C2′ Port 7

C4
Transformer 1

D Port 4 Port 3 C

G5 G6 G5 and G6 Overlapped Via Holes

(a) (b)
0 0

–5 –10
S-Parameter (dB)
S-Parameter (dB)

–10 –20
–15
–30
–20
–40
–25

–30 –50

–35 –60
0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6 0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6
Frequency (GHz) Frequency (GHz)
EM SddAA Measured SddAA EM SccAA Measured SccAA
EM SddAB Measured SddAB EM SccAB Measured SccAB
EM SddAC Measured SddAC EM SccAC Measured SccAC
EM SddAD Measured SddAD EM SccAD Measured SccAD

(c) (d)
0
EM ScdAA Measured ScdAA
–10 EM ScdAB Measured ScdAB
EM ScdAC Measured ScdAC
S-Parameter (dB)

EM ScdAD Measured ScdAD

–20

–30

–40

–50

–60
0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6
Frequency (GHz)
(e)

Figure 15. An SISL differential coupler: (a) a 3D view; (b) a photograph; and the (c) differential-, (d) common-, and (e) cross-
mode responses. tw, sl, sL, and sw denote the dimension size of the structure. A, B, C, and D denote the differential ports.
C: capacitor; EM: electromagnetic simulation; Sdd: differential-mode scattering parameter; Scc: common-mode scattering
parameter; Scd: cross-mode scattering parameter. (Source: [39].)

April 2021 61
The low-noise amplifier is the core [57]–[63] that demonstrate the advantages of SISL, such
as low loss and self-packaging, have been proposed.
module of a wireless receiver, and One approach is a compact, wideband leaky-wave
its function is to amplify the weak antenna based on the SISL [57]. A tapered radiator
signal received by the antenna. with a slot is utilized to reduce back lobes and improve
impedance matching. The efficiency is higher than
90%, and the maximum gain is 15.1 dBi from 7.5 to
maximum gain is 18.91 dB. The SISL PA has advan- 12.5 GHz. Owing to the multilayered structure of an
tages of low loss, small size, high power capacity, SISL, a stacked patch antenna and array can be cre-
and self-packaging. ated, as shown in Figure 23 and presented in [58]. A
via connecting the driven patch on the G5 layer with
SISL Antennas a feed line on the G6 layer and a stacked patch with a
The antenna is one of the important components of slant slot on the G2 layer is introduced to generate reso-
communication systems; it has the function of trans- nant frequencies. A U-shaped slot on the driven patch
mitting and receiving EM waves. Several kinds of is used for impedance matching. An equivalent par-
SISL antennas with high efficiency and self-packaging tial circuit of the antenna is given to analyze the first

Port 6 Port 7
Antenna Beams for Different
Array Port Excitations Port 5 Port 8

Port 1 Port 5
Port 2 Butler Matrix
Inside
Port 2 Port 6 Port 4

Port 1
Port 3 Port 7
Port 3
Port 4 Port 8

Port 1 Port 4
Butler Matrix Using a Patch Port 2 Port 3
Element and Honeycomb
Concept on the SISL Platform

(a) (b)

–5

–10 SimulatedS Measured

51 S71 S51 S71
S61 S81 S61 S81
S-Parameter (dB)

–15

–20

–25 Simulated Measured

S11 S11
S21 S21
–30 S31 S31
S41 S41
–35
24.5 25 25.5 26 26.5
Frequency (GHz)
(c)

Figure 16. An SISL Butler matrix: (a) a 3D view, (b) a photograph, (c) the S-parameters. (Source: [11].) (Continued)

62 April 2021
resonant frequency. A microstrip-to-slot line transition
The antenna is one of the important
is adopted in the feeding network to compose the 2 ×
4 array. The maximum gain of the array is 16.24 dBi, components of communication
and the gain flatness variation is 1.5 dB in the fre- systems; it has the function of
quency band from 5.28 to 6.05 GHz.
transmitting and receiving
For a microstrip antenna, the most common meth-
ods for achieving multiband performance are etching EM waves.
slots on an antenna patch or adding stubs, but both of
these methods decrease the antenna gain. For the SISL antenna, an SISL triple-band stacked patch antenna is
structure, different resonant frequencies can be pro- presented in [61]. Two L-shaped strips on the G1 layer
duced by adding stubs or etching slots on different lay- connected by vias with a stacked patch on the G2 layer
ers, and then multiband performance can be realized. stimulate dual modes and two resonant frequencies
Several SISL multiband antennas have been designed based on the concept of the SIR. The maximum gains
to demonstrate these methods [59]–[61]. An SISL high- in the three bands are 4.9, 6.2, and 10 dBi, respectively.
efficiency monopole antenna for WLAN applications is These examples show that more metal surfaces of the
presented in [59]. By etching a trapezoidal slot on the G2 SISL structure can be used compared with microstrip
layer and printing a little patch on the G5 and G6 lay- antennas and that SISL provides more flexibility of
ers, dual-band operation is obtained. The efficiency is design for multiband antennas.
higher than 95%. Another example is [60], which intro- An endfire antenna has both high gain and high
duces an SISL dual-band antenna with comb radiators. directivity. A dipole antenna is a classical omnidirec-
To achieve the low band from 2.43 to 2.54 GHz, an tional antenna. To achieve the endfire property, a cav-
H-shaped ring strip on the G2 layer and a rectangular ity-backed dipole antenna based on an SISL structure
ring slot on the G9 layer are utilized. The high band is designed in [62] (Figure 24). Multiple substrate layers
from 5.33 to 6.22 GHz is realized through a driven patch are used to form the cavity rather than having a mono-
on the G5 layer with a maximum gain of 10.1 dBi. To lithic metallic cavity. By adjusting the cavity size, a TE10
integrate WLAN and WiMax applications into a single mode can be stimulated.

180
Simulated
Phase (62–52) Phase (72–62) Phase (82–72)
140
Measured
Phase (62–52) Phase (72–62) Phase (82–72)
100
Simulated
Phase (64–54) Phase (74–64) Phase (84–74)
60

Measured
20 Phase (64–54) Phase (74–64) Phase (84–74)
Phase (°)

Simulated
–20 Phase (61–51) Phase (71–61) Phase (81–71)

–60 Measured
Phase (61–51) Phase (71–61) Phase (81–71)
–100 Simulated
Phase (63–53) Phase (73–63) Phase (83–73)

–140
Measured
Phase (63–53) Phase (73–63) Phase (83–73)
–180
24.5 25 25.5 26 26.5
Frequency (GHz)
(d)

Figure 16. (Continued) (d) the phase. (Source: [11].)

April 2021 63
The SISL's multilayer structure efficiency. The antenna operates in a frequency band
of 3.2–9.5 GHz.
increases design flexibility and
improves circuit miniaturization. SISL-Based Systems

24-GHz Automotive Radar

Figure 25 shows a fabricated 1 × 4 array based on the The SISL 24-GHz automotive radar is a type of fre-
antenna element. An unequal power divider is used to quency-modulated continuous-wave radar. The over-
reduce the side lobes. As a result, a gain of higher than all radar architecture includes a radar transmitting
14.1 dBi is obtained in the band from 22.77 to 27.75 GHz module, radar receiving module, and signal process-
for automotive radar. ing module. Figure 27 shows the transmitting and
Figure 26 plots the normalized radiation patterns receiving module of the SISL 24-GHz automotive
of the antenna array at different frequencies. It can be radar. The transmitting module includes a PA, switch,
seen that low side-lobe levels of better than 15 dB and Butler matrix, and transmitting antenna. The receiv-
low cross-polarization levels of fewer than –20 dB are ing module contains a switch, LNA, six-port network,
obtained. In addition, the feeding network is double detector, differential operational amplifier, Butler
sided to reduce substrate loss. An SISL quasi-Yagi matrix, and receiving antenna. The SISL 24-GHz
antenna with a gain of 8.1 dBi is proposed in [63]. A anticollision radar has a low loss property, and a But-
suspended line-to-slot line transition is utilized to ler matrix is utilized for beamforming, which can
achieve a 180° phase difference, and the coupling is increase the detection distance. At the same time,
through the air cavity, which improves the antenna the combination of the time and spatial domains can

Antenna
Array

Antenna
Array
Butler Matrix
Inside

Transition
0° for Test
Phase Butler
Shifter Matrix

Port 1 Port 4
Port 2 Port 3
45° (b)
Phase 20
Shifter Simulated Measured
Coupler Port 1 Port 1
10 Port 2 Port 2
Transition Port 3 Port 3
Port 4 Port 4
for Test Crossover 0
Gain (dB)

–10

Port 1 Port 4 –20

Port 2 Port 3

G5 G6 G5 and G6 Overlapped Via Holes –30

–180 –120 –60 0 60 120 180
Angle (°)
(a) (c)

Figure 17. An SISL Butler matrix integrated with an antenna array: (a) a planar view, (b) a photograph, and (c) the radiation
pattern. (Source: [11].)

64 April 2021
 Via

Double Metal

(a) (b) (c)

Figure 18. An SISL oscillator: (a) a planar view, (b) a photograph, and (c) the measured phase noise. AVG: average; ppm: parts
per million; Att: attenuation; Clrw: trace mode; Lin: linear; Smth: smoothing state and degree; SGL: signal; T1: trace 1; Ref:
reference. (Source: [46].)

RF Choke

Vb Vc

Vt
RF Out

TRS Resonator

Via Holes M5 M6

(a)

Phase Noise 10 dB/Ref –20 dBc.Hz Carrier 4.167635548 GHz 4.641 dBm
–20
1: 10 kHz –76.0783 dBc/Hz
–30 2: 100 kHz –103.7122 dBc/Hz
–40 3: 1 MHz –132.109 dBc/Hz
–50 >4: 10 MHz –153.7929 dBc/Hz
–60
–70
–80
1
28.94 mm –90
–100
–110 2
–120
20.75 mm

–130
–140 3
4
–150
–160
–170
–180
1,000 10,000 100,000 1,000,000 10,000,000
(b) (c)

Figure 19. An SISL VCO: (a) a planar view, (b) a photograph, and (c) the measured phase noise. TRS: transformed radial stub;
Vc: collector voltage; Vt: voltage tunable. (Source: [47].)

April 2021 65
 M1
Board 1 Board 4
M2 Substrate 1
(FR4) Air Cavity
M3 Air Cavity

Substrate 2
M4
(FR4)
Board 2 Board 5
M5
Substrate 3 Air Cavity
M6 Air (Rogers 5880)
M7 Cavity

Substrate 4 Board 3
M8 Self-
(FR4)
Packaged
M9
LNA
Substrate 5
M10 (FR4)

(a) (b)

Components Value

L1 2.8 nH

Lg 0.2 nH
Vdd = 1 V Vdd = 1 V LS 0.4 nH
Id = 18 mA Id = 18 mA
C4
LP 1 λ at LP 6.8 nH
4 4.5 GHz L4
LS2 0.4 nH
C1
Lg L4 4.3 nH
C2 C3 C5
C1 0.6 pF
C2 1.1 pF
L1 R1 R2
LS LS2 C3 0.6 pF
Transition Transition
Vg = –0.1 V C4 0.2 pF
Vg = –0.1 V
C5 0.4 pF
R1 400 kΩ
R2 400 kΩ

(c)

6
Noise Figure (dB)

5
Simulation
4
Measurement
3

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Frequency (GHz)
(d)

Figure 20. An SISL LNA: a (a) 3D view, (b) photograph, and (c) schematic and (d) the noise figure. (Source: [50].)

66 April 2021
 TABLE 3. A performance comparison of the SISL LNA and some published designs.

Frequency Noise Power

Reference (GHz) Figure (dB) S11 (dB) S21 (dB) S22 (dB) (mW) Platform
This work [50] 2.45 0.7 –8 27 –20 36 SISL Avago ATF36163
5.25 1.1 –10 28 –13
[51] 2.45 2.3 –25 14 N/A 10 0.35-µm CMOS
5.25 4.5 –15 15.5 N/A
[52] 2.4 2.2 –18 20 –8 37.8 0.15-µm pHEMT
5 2 –7 15 –7
[49] 2.45 1.5 –20 22 N/A 7.5 Microstrip Infineon BFP640
5.2 1.6 –21 12
[53] 2.4 0.5 –8.5 12.2 N/A 41.25 Microstrip Avago ATF36163
4.4 2.5 –15 12.9
[48] 2.4 3.96 –25 11.6 N/A 56 Microstrip Avago ATF36163
5.7 2.85 –12 8.92
[54] 2.45 2.8 –12.62 9.4 N/A 2.79 0.13-µm CMOS
6 3.8 –21 18.9
pHEMT: pseudomorphic high-electron-mobility transistor.

Vg Vd
90° Patch Coupler BPF Gnd
Network
Schottky PD
90° Main Patch Diode
RF
Short Stub
RF In MW6S010N RF Out

Transition
PD
for Test IF Transition
Vg Vd
Resistor Capacitor Transistor
LPF (a)
LO Reference Patch 20

10
S-Parameter (dB)

(a) 0

0
Conversion Loss (dB)

–10
–10
–20 S11
–30 –20 S21
S22
–40
–50
0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1 1.1 1.2
–60
–5 –4 –3 –2 –1 0 1 2 3 4 5 Frequency (GHz)
LO Power Level (dBm) (b)
(b)

Figure 21. An SISL mixer: (a) a photograph and (b) the Figure 22. An SISL PA: (a) a planar view and (b) the
measured conversion loss. IF: intermediate frequency; LO: simulation results. Gnd: ground; PD: power divider.
local oscillator. (Source: [55].) (Source: [56].)

April 2021 67
 be used for target detection, which can significantly transitions, filters, multiplexers, couplers, Butler
improve detection accuracy. matrices, power dividers, magic-Ts, and baluns—
and active circuits, such as oscillators, LNAs, mixers,
Conclusions switchable BPFs, PAs, and antennas, are reviewed.
This article introduces circuits and antennas based These circuits demonstrate that the SISL structure
on SISL technology. Passive circuits—including has low loss and self-packaging, and they showcase

z
y
Stacked Patch
x G1
Substrate 1
G2
Air Cavity
G3
Substrate 2
G4

Driven G5 Lvia
Substrate 3 Port 1 Z01 Z02
Patch G6
Air Cavity
G7 θ1 θ2
Substrate 4 Ccp
G8
G9
Substrate 5 Feeding Rp Lp Cp
G10 Patch

Screw Holes Metalized Vias

(a) (b)

Figure 23. The SISL stacked patch antenna: the (a) 3D structure and (b) equivalent circuit of a portion of the antenna. Z:
impedance; L: inductance; C: capacitance; cp: coupling; R: resistance; p: patch. (Source: [58].)

Metalized Hole
Substrate
Copper Via
B A G1
Substrate 1
G2 G1 G2
A Cavity
Hollowed B Structure G3
Substrate 2
G4
G3 G4
Via G5
Substrate 3
Dipole G6

A G7
G5 G6
B
Substrate 4
G8

Hollowed A
B G9
G7 G8
z Substrate 5
G10
Cavity
Structure
x y
Hole for Nut G9 G10

Figure 24. The 3D structure of the endfire dipole antenna element. (Source: [62].)

68 April 2021
 (a) (b)

Figure 25. The fabricated 1 × 4 array: the (a) G5 layer and (b) assembled array. (Source: [62].)

24.25 GHz at E-Plane 25.45 GHz at E-Plane 26.65 GHz at E-Plane

0 0 0
Radiation Pattern (dB)

Radiation Pattern (dB)

Radiation Pattern (dB)

–20 –20 –20

–40 –40 –40

–60 –60 –60

–120 –60 0 60 120 –120 –60 0 60 120 –120 –60 0 60 120
θ (°) θ (°) θ (°)
(a)

24.25 GHz at H-Plane 25.45 GHz at H-Plane 26.65 GHz at H-Plane

0 0 0
Radiation Pattern (dB)

Radiation Pattern (dB)

Radiation Pattern (dB)

–20 –20 –20

–40 –40 –40

–60 –60 –60

–120 –60 0 60 120 –120 –60 0 60 120 –120 –60 0 60 120
θ (°) θ (°) θ (°)
(b)

Simulated Copolarization (Array 1) Simulated Cross-Polarization (Array 1)

Measured Copolarization (Array 1) Measured Cross-Polarization (Array 1)
Simulated Copolarization (Array 2) Simulated Cross-Polarization (Array 2)
Measured Copolarization (Array 2) Measured Cross-Polarization (Array 2)

Figure 26. The simulated and measured radiation patterns of the proposed antenna arrays at 24.25, 25.45, and 26.65 GHz,
respectively, in the (a) E-plane and (b) H-plane. (Source: [62].)

April 2021 69
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[36] K. Staszek, J. Sorocki, P. Kaminski, K. Wincza, and S. Gruszczyn- band Low Noise Amplifier for noninvasive vital sign detection ap-
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LMWC.2017.2724003.

April 2021 71
 IMS
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 IMS
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Front & Back Image Source: ©2017, Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau
Survey of Electromagnetic Field and
Wave Interaction With “Surfaces”
■ Nader Engheta

T
his is a fascinating book, pre- In Chapter 1, Yang and Rahmat- They set the stage by providing the
senting an exciting and timely Samii give an informative introduction reader with the definition, develop-
set of topics in surface electro- and overview of the subject matter. ment, and importance of SEMs, along
magnetics (SEMs). With contributions with some of the research frontiers in
from prominent and pioneering scien- this topic. They aptly state that the EM
tists and engineers in this field, Surface surface paradigm is part of the natu-
Electromagnetics: With Applications in ral progression in the classification
Antenna, Microwave, and Optical Engineer- of EM phenomena from zero dimen-
ing covers a wide range of subject matter sional (circuits) to 1D (transmission
related to EM field and wave interactions lines) to 2D (SEMs; this book) and to
with a variety of structures categorized 3D (general EM problems). This is in-
as “surfaces.” The editors, Prof. Yang deed the spatial categorization of EM
and Prof. Rahmat-Samii, two of the most interactions with matter, analogous
outstanding and innovative pioneers in to temporal categorizations based on
EMs, have compiled and assembled a the frequency of operation, such as dc,
comprehensive set of topics, ranging RF, microwave, THz, infrared, visible,
from the fundamental aspects of wave– and ultraviolet.
surface interactions, such as the model- Another classification of EM sur-
ing, analysis, and synthesis of SEMs; faces, as described in Chapter 1, is
to guided waves, leaky waves, and the based on the nature of the surface in
plane wave features of such surfaces in terms of the spatial variation of fea-
various applied areas, e.g., cloaking and tures along the surface, i.e., from uni-
transparency; to orbital angular momen- form surfaces (e.g., flat surfaces and
tum, microwave, terahertz (THz), and Surface Electromagnetics: With Ap- interfaces between different media)
optical applications. plications in Antenna, Microwave,
and Optical Engineering
Editors: Fan Yang and Yahya Rahmat-Samii Editor’s Note
Nader Engheta ([email protected]) is
Cambridge University Press, 2019 An earlier version of this book
with the Department of Electrical and Systems
Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, ISBN: 978-1-1108470262 review originally appeared in the
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19104, USA. 484 pages, hardcover US$181.51; ebook August 2020 issue of IEEE Antennas
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MMM.2020.3048212 US$114.49. and Propagation Magazine.
Date of current version: 2 March 2021

76 April 2021
to periodic surfaces [e.g., frequency- conditions and sy nthesis proce- The transmission phase is an impor-
selective surfaces, soft/hard surfaces, dures are described, and examples tant quantity that is engineered by such
and EM bandgap (EBG) surfaces] to for negative-refraction metasurfaces, properly designed transmission sur-
quasi-periodic surfaces (e.g., reflectar- nongyrotropic nonreciprocal meta- faces. Reconfigurable surfaces are also
rays and transmitarrays). One of the surfaces, and time-varying half-wave explored and presented in this chapter.
important features of EM surfaces is absorbers are discussed. Some prac- Chapter 9, by Shuo Liu and Tie Jun
the possibility of their being tailored tical realizations are also mentioned. Cui, presents another interesting para-
to achieve specific functionalities. Maokun Li gives a detailed model- digm that benefits from metasurfaces,
Such specially engineered surfaces, ing and analysis of quasi-periodic sur- namely, coding and programmable
often called metasurfaces, can provide faces, with attention to reflectarrays, in metasurfaces. Here, the two concepts of
platforms for desirable EM responses. Chapter 5. The reduced basis method is coding and metasurfaces are merged,
This may include engineered respons- utilized in numerical analyses of such resulting in a controllable manipula-
es based on the magnitude, phase, quasi-periodic structures. Moreover, tion of EM waves. Programmable meta-
and/or polarization of the incoming the reflection phases surfaces in the presence
waves. Examples such as soft/hard in the quasi-periodic of a point source and
surfaces, high-impedance ground and infinitely periodic One of the for imaging applica-
planes, and EBG surfaces are among cases are compared. important tions are discussed.
the well-known cases. Chapter 6, by Eva In Chapter 10, Gi-
Chapter 2, by Viktar Asadchy, Ana Rajo-Iglesias, Zvoni-
features of useppe Labate, Ladislau
Diaz-Rubio, Do-Hoon Kwon, and mir Sipus, and Ashraf EM surfaces is Matekovits, and Andrea
Sergei Tretyakov, discusses analyti- Uz Zaman, deals with the possibility Alu discuss cloaking
cal models and tools that are useful the specialized wave- concepts and applica-
for handling wave interactions with guides known as gap
of their being tions using metamate-
EM surfaces. It describes the polariz- waveguides, in which tailored to rials and metasurfaces.
ability-, susceptibility-, and equiva- customized surfaces achieve specific Plasmonic cloaking in-
lent impedance-matrix-based models. inside parallel-plate volving volumetric meta-
Other topics, such as bi-anisotropy, waveguides cause the
functionalities. material coating, mantle
bi-isotropy, and nonreciprocity, along desired guided modes cloaking, and parity-
with the functionality of metasurfaces along particular paths. Various exam- time symmetry cloaking are presented.
in shaping and controlling waves in ples, such as glide-symmetric holey Some fundamental issues, such as
transmission and reflection, are pre- waveguides and bed-of-nails guided- bounds on cloaking, bandwidth, and di-
sented in this chapter. wave structures with ridges, grooves, rectionality, are also given.
Christopher Holloway and Edward inverted microstrips, and microstrip Mehdi Veysi, Caner Guclu, Filippo
F. Kuester describe the techniques of ridges, fall into this class of gap wave- Capolino, and Rahmat-Samii inves-
generalized sheet transition condi- guides. Gap waveguide antennas are tigate how textured surfaces can be
tions (GSTCs) in Chapter 3’s analysis also discussed as examples of RF ap- utilized to generate orbital angular
of metasurfaces. This versatile tool plications of such structures. momentum (OAM) beams in Chap-
provides the necessary boundary In Chapter 7, Gabriele Minatti, ter 11. They discuss the near- and far-
conditions for wave interactions with David Gonzales- Ovejero, Enrica field applications of such OAM beams.
metafilms, metascreens, and meta- Martini, and Stefano Maci present They also present the reflectarrays that
gratings, based on which the reflection metasurface antennas, an application generate the desired phase patterns
and transmission coefficients from of “metasurfing.” In such structures, needed to construct Bessel–Gaussian
these surfaces are obtained. Based on the spatial modulation of the surface and Laguerre–Gaussian beams. Re-
this information, the chapter presents features causes the conversion of sur- flectarrays with cone-shaped patterns
retrieval expressions and methods to face waves into leaky waves. Various are also discussed in this chapter.
determine surface parameters. Several parameters can be tailored in the de- Finally, in Chapter 12, Daniel Binion,
applications of GSTCs, such as guided sign of such antennas, providing use- Lei Kang, Zhi Hao Jiang, Shengyuan
waves along a single metasurface, ful methods for developing conformal Chang, Xingjie Ni, and Douglas H.
the reduction of resonator size, and antennas with desired properties, Werner describe a series of applica-
metafilm-based waveguides, are also such as shaped-beam metasurface tions of metasurfaces in the microwave,
explored in this chapter. antennas and multibeam metasur- THz, and optical regimes. Some of
In Chapter 4, Karim Achouri, face antennas. these applications include ultrathin
Yousef Vahabzadeh, and Christophe Yang and Shenheng Xu discuss EM absorbers, grounds for low-profile an-
Caloz present the synthesis of meta- surfaces as transmitarray antennas tennas, scattering signature controls,
surfaces. Metasurface boundary and transmission surfaces in Chapter 8. reflectarrays and transmitarrays,

April 2021 77
THz modulators, polarization control- Xu, which cites many representative aspects of EM surfaces. It is an
lers, metalenses, holography, and optical references that are organized based on informative source, and it is in-
invisibility cloaks. various topics. This is a highly valuable spirational to those interested in
The book also has an excellent ap- resource for the reader. entering this exciting field of re-
pendix by Yang, Rahmat-Samii, Xibi In summary, this is a great book search. I am con f ident you will
Chen, Xingliang Zhang, and Hongling to have as a reference for various treasure your copy.

Bridging the Gap Between Electromagnetic

Theory and Application
■ James Chu

H
enry Lau received his M.Sc. antennas in actual products. The book of antennas. It describes the radiation
and M.B.A. degrees in the is organized into nine chapters. mechanism of antennas and how elec-
United Kingdom and the Chapter 1, “Fundamental Concepts,” tromagnetic fields are generated and
United States, respectively. He has covers the basic properties and features used as media for wireless communica-
27 years of experience designing RF tion. It also shows multiband and mul-
systems, products, and integrated tiple-input, multiple-output antennas
circuits in both Hong Kong and the with examples.
United States. He worked for Motorola In Chapter 2, “Specification and Per-
and Conexant in the United States as formance,” Lau provides more insight
a principal engineer and holds many into the specifications and performance
patents. He currently runs Lexiwave of different antennas and the signifi-
Technology, a wireless and Internet cance of overall system performance.
of Things solution company based in The chapter covers the basic parameters
Hong Kong and the United States. of radiation pattern beam solid angle,
Practical Antenna Design for Wireless directivity, effective aperture, gain, po-
Products is a comprehensive design larization, efficiency, and the Friis trans-
guide or handbook, covering antenna mission and receiving formulas.
fundamentals, basic antenna designs, Chapter 3, “Basic Antenna Elements,”
simulation, and measurement for prac- continues the discussion in Chapter 2,
tical implementation strategies. It em- but in more detail and with additional
phasizes practicality and also helps examples, and points out the advan-
antenna designers, circuit designers, tages and disadvantages of each type,
and design managers bridge the gap such as dipole, monopole, loop, and
between electromagnetic theory and patch antennas.
its application in the design of practical In Chapter 4, “Advanced Antenna
Practical Antenna Design for Elements,” Lau provides advanced de-
Wireless Products sign techniques for miniaturizing and
James Chu ([email protected]), IEEE By Henry Lau optimizing antennas to fit the limited
Senior Life Member, is an adjunct professor Artech House, 2019 small space in smartphones. Next,
with the Southern Polytechnic College of Chapter 5, “Electromagnetic Simula-
Engineering, Kennesaw State University,
Print ISBN-13: 978-1-6-63081-325-3;
ISBN-10: 1-63081-325-7 tion, and Software,” focuses on electro-
Marietta, Georgia, 30060, USA.
289 pages, hardcover US$ 139.00; digital magnetic simulation and software for
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MMM.2020.3048217 download US$104.00.
Date of current version: 2 March 2021 (continued on page 86)

78 April 2021
Embrace the Change Together: WiM Event at NEMO 2020
■ Ye Han

T
he 2020 IEEE Microwave Theory The event was partially financially
and Techniques Society (MTT-S) sponsored by Women in Microwaves
International Conference on (WiM), a subcommittee of the MTT-S
Numerical Electromagnetic and Mul- Member and Geographic Activi-
tiphysics Modeling and Optimization ties Standing Committee within the
(NEMO 2020) was held in Hangzhou, MTT-S Administrative Committee
China, from 7 to 9 December 2020. (AdCom). More than 30 female profes-
Fifty-one female professionals partici- sionals and graduate students joined
pated in the conference (Figure 1). As the session (Figure 2).
©SHUTTERSTOCK.COM/CIENPIES DESIGN The purpose of the session was to
Ye Han ([email protected]) is with discuss how to face the challenges in
the Nanjing University of Posts and part of the conference, a special session, our fast-changing world, including
Telecommunications, Nanjing, 210049, “Women in NEMO for MAPE [Micro- the effects of COVID-19. The session
China. wave, Antennas and Propagation, and was divided into three parts: a tech-
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MMM.2020.3047750 Electromagnetic Compatibility],” took nical report, theme talk, and panel
Date of current version: 2 March 2021 place on the afternoon of 8 December. discussion.

Figure 1. Female attendees at MTT-S NEMO 2020. (Source: Xiaoying Jin; used with permission.)

April 2021 79
Figure 2. Attendees gathering for the WiM event at NEMO 2020. (Source: Xiaoying Jin; used with permission.)

“Evaluation of the Wireless Power but that does not mean that there is a
Transmission Efficiency in MIMO capacity difference between males and
Systems,” in which she introduced a females. These encouraging stories
numerical calculation method for mea- gave the attendees a lot of inspiration.
suring the transmission efficiency of a The panel session that followed
wireless power transmission system. continued the analysis and discus-
For the theme talk, Prof. Wenquan sion of women’s work and lives. The
Che from the South China University key word is change. With the rapidly
of Technology, China, gave a speech developi ng and changing envi-
t itled “Women Are Not O n ly t he ronment, the COVID-19 pandemic,
Female Gender, but Also Professionals” ne w technology, and an explo-
(Figure 3). She shared the life stories of sion of knowledge, both women and
Figure 3. Prof. Wenquan Che, IEEE two intelligent women, Marie Curie men are facing a lot of challenges.
MTT-S AdCom member (2018–2023) and and Simone de Beauvoir. Both made As female professionals, how do we
chair of the WiM Subcommittee for 2020. great contributions to our world in embrace the change? More than 15
(Source: Xiaoying Jin; used with permission.) the fields of science and engineering professionals and graduate students
and in social science, respectively. In shared their opinions and personal
At the beginning of the session, addition to their professional achieve- stories about the subject (Figure 4).
Prof. Qiaowei Yuan from the Tohoku ments, they also led wonderful lives. They came f rom different back-
Institute of Technology, Japan, deliv- Each person’s gender is a natural biologi- grounds and different stages of
ered a virtual technical presentation, cal trait that he or she cannot change, their professional lives. Prof. Cui
Meng, from Tsinghua University,
China, shared her opinion about
“doing the right thing at the right
time.” When facing challenges and
many obstacles, continuing to do
the right thing can bring a woman
the fearlessness and strength she
needs to overcome them.
Prof. Che served as the modera-
tor of the panel discussion. She men-
tioned a common occurrence in
academia called the leaky pipeline phe-
nomenon and shared her opinions about
Figure 4. Prof. Cui Meng (left), Tsinghua University, and Dr. Yunqiu Wu, the it. The leaky pipeline phenomenon is
University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, participating in the panel
discussion. (Source: Xiaoying Jin; used with permission.) (continued on page 90)

80 April 2021
Spotlight on the MTT-S Membership
and Geographic Activities Committee
■ Nuño Borges Carvalho and Robert H. Caverly

F
or this month’s “Spotlight,”
Nuño Borges Carvalho (NBC),
chair of the IEEE Microwave The-
ory and Techniques Society’s (MTT-S’s)
Membership and Geographic Activi-
ties (MGA) Committee, was inter-
viewed. Note that the interview has

©SHUTTERSTOCK.COM/TITIMA ONGKANTONG
been edited for clarity and length.

What exactly is the main purpose of

the MGA Committee?
NBC: Well, I’ve been the chair of the
MGA Committee for one year, and it
has been a strange year, but some good
things have happened for our mem-
bers. I wanted the MGA Committee
to work with and for all of our mem- help promote microwave engineering act as hosts for our Distinguished
bers throughout the world. We have around the globe. Microwave Lecturers (DMLs).
members on all continents, with a Prior to the pandemic, we were offer- Student Chapters at schools are
range from developed to developing ing assistance in organizing various especially important because they help
countries. We want to provide access in-person activities with our Chapters. introduce our future Society mem-
to activities for all of them, which can These Chapters are smaller structures of bers to microwave engineering in,
the MTT-S and, sometimes, other IEEE again, a relaxed, informal atmosphere
Societies that exist within various where they can gather socially and
localities: they could be in universities, hear talks or do fun activities such as
Nuño Borges Carvalho ([email protected]) cities, regions, or even whole coun- transmitter “fox hunts” or learn about
is with the University of Aveiro, t ries. The MGA Committee sup- working with space hardware. We
Aveiro, 3810-193, Portugal. Robert H. Caverly ports many of these Chapter meetings, also support and help with the orga-
([email protected]) is with Villanova
where people can gather in an infor- nization of Chapter chair meetings,
University, Villanova, Pennsylvania, 19085,
USA. mal, relaxed forum to discuss issues where the leaders of various Chapters
regarding microwaves, the MTT-S, can gather and discuss microwaves as
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MMM.2020.3048218
and administration as well have small well as exchange ideas about their dif-
Date of current version: 2 March 2021 technical meetings or workshops or ferent activities and perspectives on

April 2021 81
microwave engineering. These multiple many activities coming to a halt starting a give-and-take forum during which
visions of the same technology can help around February 2020. In 2019, the MGA Chapter chairs presented short vid-
increase our diversity of thought, which Committee had supported an increasing eos (https://bit.ly/32MuPiW) of their
can lead to new ideas for services the number of events for Young Professionals activities as a way to improve the util-
MGA Committee could provide. In and Women in Microwaves at various ity of all meetings. These talks have
short, the overarching aim of the MGA conferences as well as programs related been uploaded to the Facebook page.
Committee is to promote microwaves to space technology.
around the world. Once the pandemic hit, the MGA How is the pandemic impacting the
Committee had to adapt to support MGA Committee’s activities?
Where does a typical MTT-S mem- similar activities but ones that were NBC: The pandemic, unfortunately,
ber see the impact of the MGA more amenable to a virtual/remote has had a significant impact on MGA
Committee’s work? modality. One very successful event Committee activities. There have been
NBC: As I mentioned before, came from the Young Professionals some successful alternatives, as men-
the typical MTT-S member sees our community and was spearheaded by tioned previously, and we are discuss-
impact in the activities of the various Sara Barros and Tushar Sharma, the ing other possible events right now.
Chapters throughout the world, and Young Professionals coordinators: One proposal would be to have an
the MGA Committee especially sup- together with the MTT-S Marketing MTT-S Day, which would be a social
ports the Young Professionals, Women and Communications Committee, the media broadcast—possibly a mix of
in Engineering, and various Student MTT-Live forum was developed as a remote and in-person, depending
Branch activities. Typically, members way to assist in the delivery of techni- on the venue—following the MTT-S
will see our efforts in their Chapter cal talks to a remote audience. president through the International
activities, such as lectures and meet- The first talk was presented by Microwave Symposium (IMS) exhibit
ings. All of these activities are sup- Robert Thirsk, a former astronaut, and hall to see what it is all about.
ported by the MTT-S membership other presentations, such as those by Since the IMS has the largest
dues, and new initiatives are encour- DMLs, have continued. Thirsk’s lec- exhibit of microwave vendors in the
aged and supported by the Society. ture was very timely, as parts of the world, it is really an exciting place to
Our goal is to try to bring people speech were devoted to the idea of liv- be and see, and, hopefully, new mem-
together, in person or virtually, as a ing in isolation—he discussed the iso- bers will recognize the benefits of
way to enhance our interactions and lation associated with the pandemic attending a conference and becoming
promote microwave engineering. The and what one can do to cope with this, MTT-S members. Some similar types
MGA Committee itself does not actu- whether in space or on Earth. of walk-through videos have been
ally provide the technical content Live and recorded versions of these done at commercial shows, but this
material, such as workshops; rather, we talks are available on social media event is devoted to our tech nol-
rely on the MTT-S technical commit- platforms, such as the MTT-S channel og y, microwaves.
tees and the specialized expertise of the on YouTube (https://bit.ly/3pydvYQ), We are also encouraging our stu-
membership to provide the program. MTT-S Live page on Facebook (https:// dents in both Student Branches and
The MGA Committee tries to sup- www.facebook.com/IEEEMTT), and those involved in their Chapters to
port the gathering of like-minded LinkedIn page. We have seen as many organize MTT-S Day workshops
microwave engineers. We hope the as 5,000–6,000 microwave engineers or other events that could include
typical MTT-S member takes advan- take advantage of these presentations. friendly competitions, such as hidden
tage of all of these activities because, The second talk featured MTT-S transmitter hunts, or other fun micro-
as the saying goes, “If you do not Administrative Committee mem- wave-related activities. To help out our
have members, then you do not have ber Goutam Chattopadhyay and was Chapters even more, we are discuss-
a Society.” Fortunately, we see our attended by many people interested in ing creating a Chapter Welcome Kit
recent efforts starting to bear fruit in NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) that will help jump-start Chapters to
that we have seen the membership activities. The third event was held get them active quickly.
numbers slowly increasing in the past in association with a Chapter chairs Because of the pandemic, none of
year or two. meeting and featured David Root dis- our DMLs has been able to travel, and
cussing the impact of microwave engi- so they have been presenting their
What are some of the accomplish- neering on the new and exciting area talks remotely. The MGA Committee,
ments of the MGA Committee in of quantum computing. More than 300 Electronic Information Committee
the last two years that the general people listened to this talk live, with (EIC), and Technical Coordinating and
MTT-S member would have seen? many more accessing the recorded Future Directions Committee (TCFDC)
NBC: The world has changed sig- version. To help our Chapter chairs, [see the September 2020 issue for our
nificantly over the last two years, with another activity using MTT-S Live was “Spotlight” on the TCFDC] have been

82 April 2021
discussing how we might reorganize As an MTT-S member, how can I MTT-S community. Even in this time
the DML program for remote talks as make a contribution to help with the of travel and gathering restrictions,
well as in-person presentations once work related to the MGA Committee? Chapters can still be quite active. For
the pandemic travel restrictions are NBC: One of the first things you example, Chapters in India are doing
lifted. We want to make the program can do is contact your local Chapter amazing workshops online using
accessible to more Chapters and pro- c ha i r to d i sc u ss how you m ig ht various platforms to reach through-
mote it so that it is more widely seen become involved in Chapter activities. out the country.
as an MTT-S activity. One possible Volunteer your time to help organize
way to do this is to develop a website events, such as DML lectures, work- Is there one final statement that
with the DML schedules so that there shops, social events, or even small you wou ld like to ma ke to t he
is advanced notice of dates and venues regional conferences. MTT-S membership about the MGA
to help increase attendance. If you don’t find a Chapter nearby, Committee?
you can create one. How do you go NBC: This is not exactly MGA
What made you want to take on the about doing that? If you have at least Committee related, but, when we
role of chair of the MGA Committee? 12 members in the Region, you can talk about the MTT-S community,
NBC: For three years, I was chair of petition to create a Chapter by going we are really talking about a group
the MTT-S EIC, which is the committee to the MTT-S webs i t e ( h t t p s ://m t t that is very hardware oriented. If
tasked with developing and maintain- . o r g /c h a p t e r - officers-handbook/ you are interested in “gadgets,” this
ing the MTT-S’s electronic presence on creating-a-new-chapter/), download- is the community to be a part of. The
the web, social media, and other virtual ing and completing the Chapter orga- MTT-S has considerable expertise to
resources. The MTT-S president asked nization forms, and sending them share with the electronics commu-
me if there was another committee that in. The website shows the process. A nity, and so we need to get this out
I was interested in serving on, and so I student Chapter can be created in the to a wider audience and make the
went to meetings of other committees, same way. If your local area does not MTT-S the place to go for hardware
such as the MGA Committee, Meetings have enough MTT-S members, you can questions. We are the “MHz To THz
and Symposia (M&S) Committee organize a joint Chapter with one or Community,” and our expertise is
[see the November 2020 issue for our more IEEE Societies, such as the IEEE found everywhere. Most people buy-
“Spotlight” on the M&S Committee], Antennas and Propagation Society ing their smartphone, laptop, or tablet
and TCFDC. I had been Chapter chair or IEEE Electron Devices Society, to may not realize that they are actually
at one time in Portugal and, later, of increase the numbers and create a buying something with a radio com-
the IEEE Portugal Section; I wanted to “critical mass” of Chapter members to ponent; the MTT-S is the community
try to bring more microwave engineers help with activities. that helped in that radio’s creation.
into the community, and so I felt that Being involved in a Chapter is
the MGA Committee would be the best one of the most important things
one to join. you can do to be involved with the

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April 2021 83
■ Edward C. Niehenke

A
s yo u r O m b u d s O f f i c e r, I
received 14 inquiries (five
non-U.S.) from IEEE Micro-
wave Theory and Techniques Society
(MTT-S) members between 1 Septem-
ber and 15 December 2020. All inqui-
ries were typically acted upon within
one week, and replies were sent to all
MTT-S members.
A member was charged an amount
Technical Questions and did not know what the charge was
and Information for. I contacted IEEE, a representative
One member noted that his voltage- of which provided the member with
controlled oscillator did not tune across details of the charge. Another mem-
the required frequency tuning range. ber requested contact information for
The member traced the problem to a a vendor that exhibited at the 2020
solenoid inductor connected between International Microwave Symposium
his tuning varactor and dc tuning port. (IMS), which was supplied. Another China, Greg Lyons, chair of the Image
I explained that the inductor was proba- member wanted to contact the family and Visibility Group, presented the
bly operating at a frequency well above members of a deceased University of tagline and received approval in a for-
its parallel resonant frequency, where it Massachusetts instructor and Hughes mal vote.
appears as a capacitor. Thus, the imped- Aircraft employee. This person had
ance shunting the varactor would be the a significant impact on the member’s IEEE and MTT-S Membership
solenoid’s effective capacitance in series academic and professional careers. I Issues
with the dc coupling shunt capacitor. made many contacts but was unable to A member was interested in the pro-
This limits the frequency tuning range. provide the information. cedure for becoming a Senior Member.
I suggested the member replace the A member was interested in the I explained that the Senior Member
inductor with one that operates below origin of the tagline “MHz To THz is the highest grade for which IEEE
its parallel resonant frequency. Community” with our logo of the Members can apply. IEEE Members
“magic tees.” Jim Rautio, previous chair can self-nominate or be nominated for
of the Image and Visibility Group, came this level.
Edward C. Niehenke ([email protected]) up with the tagline and presented it at To be eligible for application or
is with Niehenke Consulting, Elkridge, a strategic planning meeting on 23 nomination, candidates must
Maryland, 21075, USA. January 2015 in Austin, Texas. At the • be engineers, scientists, educa-
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MMM.2020.3048219 2016 October MTT-S Administrative tors, technical executives, or orig-
Date of current version: 2 March 2021 Committee (AdCom) meeting in inators in IEEE-designated fields

84 April 2021
 • have experience reflecting pro- ° San Francisco fund to aid needy Chapters in putting
fessional maturity ° Boston on yearly workshops and symposia.
• have been in professional practice ° at large This provides US$500 seed money per
for at least 10 years (with some ° Southern California Chapter. For a higher level of funding
credit for certain degrees) ° Mid-Atlantic. up to US$3,000, the detailed require-
• show significant performance • At large is presently defined as ments are as follows:
over a period of at least five of their one of Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, • A proposal must be submitted
years in professional practice. Orlando, or Phoenix. with a budget to the Membership
I suggested the member visit https:// • Southern California is defined and Geographic Activities (MGA)
www.ieee.org/membership/senior/, as one of Anaheim, downtown Committee chair.
which lists the requirements and pro- Los Angeles, or San Diego. • The event must have a high-
cedure for becoming an IEEE Senior • Mid-Atlantic is defined as one of quality technical topic and good
Member. I am sure that many of our Baltimore, Philadelphia, or the speakers.
MTT-S members qualify, so plan to apply. District of Columbia. • The event must be a one-full-day
• These sites are based on the or multiple-day workshop/collo-
MTT-S Symposia IMS business model for meet- quium.
A member was having difficul- ing room and exhibition space • The event must anticipate at least
ties downloading and also with the requirements along with rea- 30 attendees.
charges for a 2017 short course. The sonable concentrations of RF, • The funding may be used for
problems were resolved, and the mem- microwave, or millimeter-wave speakers’ travel.
ber was satisfied. Thanks to all who communities. • The funding may not be used for
helped out. A me m b e r r e q ue st e d c o nt ac t attendees’ travel.
Another person was interested in information for a future IMS chair, • Funding will not be provided for
IMS details, which are answered here: which was provided. An exhibition a social meeting or regular Chap-
• Number of delegates: typically management team was interested in ter meeting.
10,000. providing assistance for our future • An IEEE membership booth must
• Future IMS locations and dates: IMSs. I submitted the inquiry to Dr. be present at the event.
• IMS2021: Atlanta, Georgia, 6–11 Rickard Snyder, the MTT-S exhibi- • Event organizers must obtain en-
June tion management tender chair. His dorsement from their MTT-S re-
• IMS2022: Denver, Colorado, response was that we settled on a gional coordinator.
19–24 June new contract for IMS2021–IMS2023 • The MGA chair will approve
• IMS2023: San Diego, California, with a possible extension for another funding based on the regional
11–16 June period (to be determined). He recom- coordinator’s endorsement, tech-
• IMS2024: Washington, DC, 16– mended checking back sometime in nical program strength, and bud-
21 June late 2022. get needs.
• IMS2025: San Francisco, Cali- A member from the Long Island We have limited funding, so please
fornia, 15–20 June MTT-S Chapter requested assistance in do not apply unless the money is
• IMS2026: Boston, Massachu- holding a virtual symposium in 2021, truly needed.
setts, 7–12 June including a virtual exhibits booth sim- I had many requests from profes-
• IMS2027: Dallas, Texas, 6–11 ilar to IMS2020. I put the member in sional conference organizers and
June. contact with Tim Lee, chair of IMS2020, convention bureaus concerning the
• How are locations selected? who did a superb job in running the Asia-Pacific Microwave Conference
• MTT-S Chapters submit pro- conference. I also reminded the mem- (APMC). Their interest is to have the
posals, usually two at a time, ber that the MTT-S provides financial conference in a particular location, such
and the MTT-S body (AdCom) assistance for running such an event, as Tel Aviv, or manage a future confer-
votes and selects the location. and information can be found in the ence in 2027 or 2028. Information was
• Does the IMS have a specific rota- Chapter Officers Handbook (https:// provided to the inquiries. The future
tion? mtt.org/chapter-officers-handbook/). APMC locations are listed here:
• The present rotation pattern is The MTT-S AdCom has established a • APMC 2021: Australia
• APMC 2022: Tokyo, Japan
• APMC 2023: Hsinchu, Taiwan
• APMC 2024: Bali, Indonesia
• APMC 2025: Jeju, Korea
• APMC 2026: Fukuoka, Japan
• APMC 2027: mainland China.

April 2021 85
MTT-S Webpage and Help Line
Additional IEEE contact information
is as follows. Phone: toll-free in the
United States and Canada at +1 800
678 4333 or worldwide at +1 732 981
0060; fax at +1 732 562 5445, Attention
member services; email: contactcenter@
ie e e.org. To add a new s er v ice
electronically, please visit IEEE at
www.ieee.org and click on “Renew.”
To purchase a n IEEE product by
email, contact customercenter@ieee
.org or call one of the numbers listed
previously.
Please feel free to contact me by
letter, telephone, or email concerning
any complaint you may have or any
assistance you may need in obtaining
membership services from IEEE and
the MTT-S. My contact information
can be found on the opening page of
this column.

Book/Software Reviews (continued from page 78)

antenna design. Some of the commonly elements and their effects on anten- for Internet of Things devices. It also
used electromagnetic simulators, both nas in addition to practical consider- includes technology-specific design
commercial and free, are discussed. ations on impedance measurement and trends based on new material and
In Chapter 6, “Measurements,” Lau designing matching networks. design approaches.
highlights the measurement tech- Chapter 8, “Practical Implementation In summary, this book is written
niques and equipment setups needed Strategies and Design Examples,” for practical antenna designers and
for measuring the fundamental param- addresses design issues and consid- includes all of the necessary infor-
eters of antennas; these include radia- ers antennas from both the product mation to jump in and start design-
tion pattern, gain, efficiency, imped- and system perspectives. Lau identi- ing antennas. It bridges the gap
ance, and polarization. Chapter 7, fies the importance of understanding between theory and practice and has
“Impedance Matching,” continues the specifications and requirements of just enough equations to make the
with the basic theory of S-parameters antennas and includes systems analy- theory clear but not so many as to be
and impedance-measuring equipment, sis considerations, printed circuit board confusing. For the wireless products
such as network analyzers, different layout design, component placement, antenna designer, this is the book
matching topologies, and matching and mechanical design. you must have in your office as your
elements. It also discusses the high- Chapter 9, “Future Trends,” iden- first reference.
frequency characteristics of matching tifies the future trends in antennas

86 April 2021
IEEE J-ERM

IEEE Journal of Electromagnetics, RF and Microwaves in Medicine and Biology (J-ERM)

Call for Papers for the IEEE IMBioC 2021 Special Issue

The IEEE International Microwave Biomedical Conference of 2021 (IEEE IMBioC 2021) has been cancelled due to
the uncertainties of the travel restrictions associated with the Covid-19 pandemic. The IEEE Journal of
Electromagnetics, RF and Microwaves in Medicine and Biology (J-ERM) is sponsored by IEEE MTT-S and EMBS. In
order to give the researchers who intended to participate in the IMBioC 2021 an opportunity to showcase their
work, the IMBioC 2021 Chairs would like to propose a Special Issue of the IEEE J-ERM dedicated to the IMBioC
2021 meeting.

Potential contributors to the IMBioC 2021 are invited to submit their recent research results to the noted IEEE J-
ERM Special Issue. Each contribution will undergo the review process consistent with the review of the regular
submissions to the journal. More information on the J-ERM can be found at http://ieee-jerm.org.

The focus of the IEEE J-ERM is on the applications of electromagnetics, radio frequency signals, microwave and
millimeter-waves in the field of medicine and biology. If uncertain whether the subject of your submission fits
the theme of the special issue, please contact the guest editors at [email protected].

What follows is listed key information about the IEEE J-ERM Special Issue – IMBioC 2021:
• The paper submission will be done through the journal’s web page http://ieee-jerm.org, leading to
ScholarOne ManuscriptCentral. In the menu for “Manuscript Type”, please select “IMBioC 2021 Special
Issue”.
• The submission window will be open during the period 10 February – 1 May, 2021.
• The planned publication date for the J-ERM Special Issue – IMBioC 2021 is September 2021. The accepted
submissions will be available in the electronic format through IEEE Xplore.
• The guideline and template for manuscript preparation can be found on the J-ERM webpage.
• If you have any question, please contact us at [email protected].

Guest Editors:
Milica Popović, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
Alessandra Costanzo, Alma Mater Studiorum, Università di Bologna, Italy

Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MMM.2021.3056829

 Quadrature Current
■ Takashi Ohira

C
ontinuing from the March issue puzzle, we
stay focused on the sinusoidal output current Vdc
i (t) = I P sin ~t + I Q cos ~t (1) Idc

of the power amplifier shown in Figure 1. As we found the L1

L2 C2 i (t )
in-phase current I P = rI dc/2 in the previous puzzle, the v (t )
remaining problem concerns the final term’s coefficient
I Q . To answer this problem, a proportion is found between
C1 R
the dc input voltage Vdc and the RF quadrature current I Q
to keep the zero-voltage switching (ZVS) operation. Given
Vdc, which of the following should be equal to I Q ?
a) - r~C 1 Vdc c) - 3r~C 1 Vdc
b) - 2r~C 1 Vdc d) - 4r~C 1 Vdc
Figure 1. The switch-mode power amplifier that outputs a
sinusoidal wave.
Solution to Last Month’s “Enigmas, etc.”
Challenge
We focus on the current I C (t) flowing into the shunt Just before the transistor turns on at t = T/2, the
capacitor C 1 . Immediately after the transistor turns off accumulated voltage approaches
at t = 0, the current
rI dc - 2I P
lim v(t) = . (4)
i C (t) = I dc - i (t) = I dc - I P sin ~t - I Q cos ~t (2) t " T/2 ~C 1

starts charging the capacitor. Therefore, the capacitor’s The right-hand side numerator becomes zero if and
voltage v(t) accumulates as only if

v(t) = 1 # i C (t) dt
t
I P = r I dc . (5)
C1 0 2

= 1 " I dc ~t + I P (cos ~t - 1) - I Q sin ~t , (3) This is the specific current relation to be observed
~C 1
when the amplifier operates in the ZVS mode. There-
in its off state. fore, the correct answer to last month’s quiz is “b.”
For example, when we give 1/~C 1 = 50, I dc = 1,
Takashi Ohira ([email protected]) is with Toyohashi University of I P = r/2, and I Q = - 2, the capacitor voltage and output
Technology, Aichi, 441-8580, Japan. He is a Life Fellow of IEEE. current are

v(t) = 50 $ ~t + r (cos ~t - 1) + 2 sin ~t .

Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MMM.2020.3048220
(6)
Date of current version: 2 March 2021 2

88 April 2021
 











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10.1109/MMM.2021.3057773
Digital Object Identifier
 i (t) = r sin ~t - 2 cos ~t, (7)
i (t ) 2
2
as shown in Figure 2. We can confirm that v(t) returns
0
to zero immediately before the transistor turns on in
–2 each interval. Thus, the turn-on inrush current can be
avoided as we have envisaged based on the LC resona-
100 v (t )
tor. This results in a clear difference from the sawtooth-
50 like waveform exhibited by the last month’s circuit.
0
Reviewing the formulation (2)–(7) may leave one
puzzled about the role of I Q in the circuit; I P has been
On On On
t specified in (5) from the ZVS condition. To answer
0 T 2T this question, we will further explore I Q in the next
Figure 2. The ZVS amplifier’s output current i(t) and challenge.
capacitor voltage o(t) for 1/~C 1 = 50, I dc = 1, I P = r/2,
and I Q = - 2.

Women in Microwaves (continued from page 80)

to go and how big a contribution they

hope to make to this world.
Finally, Prof. Che offered some con-
cluding remarks, noting that not only
women but also men need to keep
learning continuously in their lives
and to take positive actions to benefit
from changes instead of being over-
whelmed by them.
In addition to the special session,
a technical award was also set up to
Figure 5. The winners of the Women in NEMO for MAPE Award with the award further demonstrate the technical con-
presenters. From left: Prof. Wen-Yan Yin (presenter), Yang Liu, Yulin Du, Yueqian Wu, Li tributions and increase the visibility
Huang, and Prof. Erping Li (presenter). (Source: Xiaoying Jin; used with permission.) of women graduate students and pro-
fessionals. Four technical papers were
way of conceptualizing the process was that, despite barriers from the selected by an International Awards
by which the proportion of females outside world, self-limitation in one’s Committee and awarded the Women
in science, technology, engineer- own mind is usually the most impor- in NEMO for MAPE Award for best
ing, and mathematics declines as the tant factor, and it is also one of the paper. The award was announced
professional level rises. All of the main obstacles to women’s growth at the con ference ba nquet on 8
participants discussed the reasons and career development. As women December (Figure 5).
behind this phenomenon from their move along in their lives, they need
own perspectives. The consensus to decide exactly how far they want

90 April 2021
 IEEE M icrowav e and W ireless C om ponents Letters
Special Issue on
R ad ar and Microwave S ensor S ystem s
Submission date: 1 September 20 21, Publication date: January 20 22

M otiv ation:
This Special Issue is devoted to technical papers on radar and sensor systems in the microwave and millimeter-wave bands.
Massive technological progress has been made in recent years at the microwave device and component level, enabling new
research directions on sophisticated microwave and millimeter-wave systems. Among the most significant fields of
application for such systems has been sensor technology, with a major emphasis on radar systems. Interest in automotive
sensing, wireless human-computer interaction, biometric measurements, industrial monitoring, and target tracking among
many other applications has driven this interest. Advances in device and component technology are supporting system
design concepts that treat the microwave hardware as a co-design element of the system, along with signal processing and
antenna design. Such co-design is of particular importance in radar and sensor systems, where a rapidly increasing number
of wireless devices and an increasingly crowded spectrum necessitates the design and use of specialized signals ( both
temporal waveform designs and spatial beamforming) to maintain and improve sensor performance. Systems designed for
general broad applicability are becoming more challenging to implement, while specialized systems that co-design the
aperture, microwave hardware, and signal processing are becoming increasingly relevant. Technologies such as digital array
radar, distributed and networked sensors, computational imagers, high-sensitivity Doppler radars, and integrated millimeter-
wave radar, to name only a few, have supported system-level developments. This Special Issue is intended to highlight
advancements in these and other microwave system-level technologies.

T opics of interest includ e, b ut are not lim ited to:

 Microwave and millimeter-wave radar and sensor system design and demonstration: radar and sensor
demonstrations, beamforming systems, passive and networked radar, joint radar and communication systems, joint
sensing and communications systems, synthetic aperture radar, new and emerging sensor system implementations.
 Millimeter-wave imaging systems: active and passive phased arrays, MIMO arrays, interferometric systems, signal
processing for imaging systems, calibration.
 D istribu ted, networked and coop erative radar: network architectures, repeaters, coherent and non-coherent
networks, cooperative sensor systems, distributed MIMO.
 H ardware/ software co-design: MIMO antenna arrays, angle estimation, hardware-supported signal processing
approaches, modulation schemes for MIMO sensing systems.
 Millimeter-wave sensor MMIC s and comp onents: MMICs and circuits using solid state and non-solid state
technologies, multi-channel transceivers, power amplifier, complex systems on chip, signal cancelling chips for
duplex systems, integrated antennas.
 E x p erimental demonstrations of novel modu lation schemes for sensing and radar ap p lications: digital modulation,
OFDM, PMCW, chirp sequence systems, non-linear modulations, novel waveform design and demonstration.
 Ap p lications of radar and microwave sensor systems: automotive and industrial applications, wireless human-
computer interaction, biometric measurements, industrial monitoring, target tracking, remote sensing, new and
emerging sensor applications.

Authors must consult the link https:/ / mtt.org/ publications/ microwave-and-wireless-components-letters/ author-information-
letters/ for submission instructions.
Guest Ed itors
Prof. Christian Waldschmidt Prof. Jeffrey Nanzer
U niversity of U lm Michigan State U niversity

Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MMM.2021.3057774

Editor’s Note: Please check the website 2021 IEEE Radio Frequency 2021 46th International Conference
of each conference for any changes to Integrated Circuits on Infrared, Millimeter and Terahertz
paper or workshop deadlines or con- Symposium (RFIC) Waves (IRMMW-THz)
ference dates and modality (in person, 6–8 June 2021 29 August–3 September 2021
virtual, or hybrid). Location: Atlanta, Georgia, Location: Chengdu, China
United States
APRIL 2021 OCTOBER 2021
2021 IEEE 21st Annual Wireless and 2021 IEEE/MTT-S International 2021 32nd International Symposium
Microwave Technology Conference Microwave Symposium—IMS 2021, on Space Terahertz Technology
(WAMICON) Colocated with 97th ARFTG (ISSTT)
28–29 April 2021 Microwave Measurement 4–7 October 2021
(Virtual Conference) Conference (ARFTG) Location: Baeza, Spain
6–11 June 2021
MAY 2021 Location: Atlanta, Georgia, 2021 51st European Microwave
2021 IEEE Texas Symposium on United States Conference (EuMC), 2021 16th
Wireless and Microwave Circuits European Microwave Integrated
and Systems (WMCS) JULY 2021 Circuits Conference (EuMIC),
18–20 May 2021 2021 Fourth International and 2021 18th European Radar
(Virtual Conference) Workshop on Mobile Terahertz Conference (EuRAD)
Systems (IWMTS) 11–15 October 2021
2021 IEEE MTT-S Latin America 5–6 July 2021 Location: London, United Kingdom
Microwave Conference (LAMC) Location: Essen, Germany
26–28 May 2021 2021 IEEE 30th Conference on
(Virtual Conference) AUGUST 2021 Electrical Performance of Electronic
2021 IEEE 19th International Packaging and Systems (EPEPS)
JUNE 2021 Symposium on Antenna Technology 17–20 October 2021
2021 IEEE Wireless Power and Applied Electromagnetics Location: Austin, Texas,
Transfer Conference (WPTC); (ANTEM) United States
2021 IEEE PELS Workshop on 8–11 August 2021
Emerging Technologies: Wireless Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba, 2021 15th International Conference
Power Transfer (WoW) Canada on Advanced Technologies, Systems,
1–4 June 2021 and Services in Telecommunications
(Virtual Conference) 2021 IEEE International Symposium (TELSIKS)
on Radio-Frequency Integration 20–22 October 2021
Technology (RFIT) Location: Nis, Serbia
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MMM.2020.3048221 25–27 August 2021
Date of current version: 2 March 2021 Location: Hualien, Taiwan

92 April 2021
 16-19 January 2022, Las Vegas, NV USA
Caesars Palace Hotel

http://www.radiowirelessweek.org/

CALL
The 2022 Radio & Wireless Week (RWW) will jointly host the 2022 Radio and Wireless 
Symposium (RWS) and the 22nd IEEE Topical Meeting on Silicon Monolithic Integrated Circuits 
(SiRF2022). Topical meetings held in parallel will provide more focused sessions in the areas of 
FOR RF Power Amplifiers (PAWR), Wireless Sensors and Sensor Networks (WiSNet), and Space 

PAPERS
Hardware and Radio (SHaRC). RWW2022 is partnered with the multi‐Society IEEE Internet of 
Things (IoT) initiative to host an IoT Summit. Submissions are due 25 July 2021. 

Wireless technologies,  CMOS and Si/SiGe  High power and wide  Communications, radar,  Small/micro Sats and 

emerging applications and  BiCMOS technologies for  band devices/circuits for  positioning, imaging,  CubeSats; Satellite 
systems, medical and  micro‐ and millimeter‐ mobile, space, and avionic  localization & tracking.  Constellations, Unmanned 
environmental sensing,  wave applications. From  applications.  RFIDs, sensor network  Air Systems; Radiation 
packaging, antennas,  materials to circuits and  MMICs/Hybrids,  topologies, Six‐Port &  Effects, High Data Rate 
novel/  systems. modeling, predistortion  Multi‐Port Technology.  Links, Navigation, Remote 
printed materials. and packaging. Body area networks/IoT. Sensing & Earth 
Observation

CALL FOR
In addition to the above sub‐conference topics, we invite proposals on: 
1. RF/Microwave Power Amplifiers 
2. Silicon Monolithic Integrated Circuits in RF Systems 
WORKSHOPS 3. Wireless Sensors and Sensor Networks 
4. Technology for CubeSats and New Space 
5. RF and Microwave Measurement Techniques and Test Beds 
 
6. Emerging Topics such as Quantum Computing with Microwaves and 6G
Workshop Proposals should focus on a timely topic of high interest to the MTT‐S community and encompass a coherent 
theme that is presented by selected experts in the field. Workshops should be structured and moderated by the organizer 
so  that  the  audience  is  actively  engaged  and,  where  appropriate,  include  tutorial  or  review  material  to  assist  the 
attendees without current knowledge of the subject. We will be able to accommodate up to two full day workshops on 
Monday and we would like to offer several half‐day workshops on Sunday. 

CALL FOR
 

The  RWW  Demonstration  Track  provides  an  interactive 

forum for hands‐on demonstration of your latest wireless   
The 98th ARFTG Microwave 
DEMOS experiments  and  innovations.  We  invite  you  to  show  off 
your latest innovations live! Measurement Symposium is 
co‐locating with RWW 2022. 

Paper submission instructions can be found at http://www.radiowirelessweek.org/. Submissions should be formatted according to the
submission review template available on the RWW website. Authors should indicate preference for oral or poster presentation. All
submissions must be received by 25 July 2021. All accepted papers will be published in a digest and included in the IEEE Xplore® Digital
Library. Submissions will be evaluated based on novelty, significance of the work, technical content, interest to the audience, and
presentation.

Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MMM.2021.3057775

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