Millimetre wave micromachined devices for communications and radar
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Birmingham
Department Name: Electronic, Electrical and Computer Eng
Abstract
Communications has recently seen a surge in popularity with the vast increase in mobile phone usage. Both the phones and the infrastructure, which allows them to communicate, requires electronic components of extremely high performance which are very small in size. This proposal aims at making new miniaturised electronic components. The components of interest operate at very high frequencies (greater than 1GHz) in the microwave frequency regime. It is possible to build new miniature components because of two relatively new manufacturing processes being developed at Birmingham University. The manufacturing processes have the ability to machine materials to an incredible accuracy to produce very small, very precise shapes. These shapes are designed to perform the electronic signal processing function in the new devices. The machining is not by mechanical means but by chemical etching and the materials to be machined are silicon and an epoxy resin. Clearly with this new material a great deal of effort is required on the design of the new microwave circuits as well as continued development of the micromachining process. The outcome of the project will therefore be new processes to make the components as well as some components themselves. Although mobile communications was mentioned above as an example of where the components could be used, there are many more uses of the new components. Communications at extremely high frequencies (up to and above 100GHz) and radar systems are excellent examples of potential uses.
Publications
Jayyousi A
(2010)
Analytic sensitivity calculations of poles and zeros of general Chebyshev filtering functions for microwave coupled resonators
in IET Microwaves, Antennas & Propagation
Ke M
(2008)
Design and realisation of low loss air-filled rectangular coaxial cable with bent quarter-wavelength supporting stubs
in Microwave and Optical Technology Letters
Lancaster M
(2007)
Design and High Performance of a Micromachined $K$-Band Rectangular Coaxial Cable
in IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques
Murad N
(2010)
Micromachined H-plane horn antenna manufactured using thick SU-8 photoresist
in Electronics Letters
Nicholson G
(2009)
Coupling matrix synthesis of cross-coupled microwave filters using a hybrid optimisation algorithm
in IET Microwaves, Antennas & Propagation
Prest M
(2008)
Silicon comb-drive actuators for low-temperature tuning of superconducting microwave circuits
in Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering
| Description | Communications has recently seen a surge in popularity with the vast increase in mobile phone usage. Both the phones and the infrastructure, which allows them to communicate, requires electronic components of extremely high performance which are very small in size. This proposal aims at making new miniaturised electronic components. The components of interest operate at very high frequencies (greater than 1GHz) in the microwave frequency regime. It is possible to build new miniature components because of two relatively new manufacturing processes being developed at Birmingham University. The manufacturing processes have the ability to machine materials to an incredible accuracy to produce very small, very precise shapes. These shapes are designed to perform the electronic signal processing function in the new devices. The machining is not by mechanical means but by chemical etching and the materials to be machined are silicon and an epoxy resin. Clearly with this new material a great deal of effort is required on the design of the new microwave circuits as well as continued development of the micromachining process. The outcome of the project will therefore be new processes to make the components as well as some components themselves. Although mobile communications was mentioned above as an example of where the components could be used, there are many more uses of the new components. Communications at extremely high frequencies (up to and above 100GHz) and radar systems are excellent examples of potential uses. |
| Exploitation Route | UK industry cannot afford to ignore micromachined components; they are enabling technology in many industrial areas. This is particularly true for the devices described in this proposal. A great deal of research work has already been done on the technology described in this proposal in both the UK and around the world. However, there has been a lack of direction for its application. Here, we focus primarily on the application that will draw on the technology. The demonstration of the type of components described in this application will help catalyse this industry. BAE SYSTEMS has recently been involved with sponsoring a PhD studentship in this area; they will be one of the main industrial beneficiaries of the project gaining knowledge of the processes and our microwave designs. This is not only relevant to the one particular project described in the proposal, but also to other related projects. More generally the developments expected will be of direct interest to the communications industry; the most rapidly growing area of engineering during this decade. Internet, fixed line and mobile telephone services, as well as direct broadcast services are undergoing a major revolution. The microwave work and the resulting devices described in this proposal have relevance to many areas of communications. We have shown our past work is relevant and it has been developed to the extent of trialling our devices in real communications base stations. |
| Sectors | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software) |
| URL | http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/edt |
| Description | BAE Systems Advanced Technology Centre |
| Organisation | BAE Systems |
| Department | Advanced Technology Centre |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| Start Year | 2006 |