The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 12, 1995
Filed:
Dec. 15, 1994
Harvey C Nathanson, Pittsburgh, PA (US);
Michael W Cresswell, Frederick, MD (US);
Thomas J Smith, Jr, Salem Township, PA (US);
Lewis R Lowry, Jr, Scott Township, OH (US);
Maurice H Hanes, Murrysville, PA (US);
Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Pittsburgh, PA (US);
Abstract
A silicon-based monolithic microwave integrated circuit architecture is described. This architecture, called MICROX.TM., is a combination of silicon material growth and wafer processing technologies. A wafer is fabricated using a substrate of high resistivity silicon material. An insulating layer is formed in the wafer below the surface area of active silicon, preferably using the SIMOX process. A monolithic circuit is fabricated on the wafer. A ground plane electrode is formed on the back of the wafer. Direct current and rf capacitive losses under microstrip interconnections and transistor source and drain electrodes are thereby minimized. Reduction in the resistivity of the substrate material as a result of CMOS processing can be minimized by maintaining a shielding layer over the bottom surface of the wafer. Microstrip and airbridge connectors, salicide processing and nitride side wall spacing can be used to further enhance device performance. The resulting architecture is an alternative to gallium arsenide integrated circuits for microwave applications.