Silicon based monolithic integrated microwave systems-present limitations and future aspects

Target costs of commercial microwave and future active phased array radar applications are difficult to achieve with traditional technologies. On the other hand, the potential for substantial cost reduction by integrated systems based on silicon and silicon-germanium technologies cannot be exploited at present due to a number of obstructions that have to be overcome. This contribution intends to describe those roadblocks, future prospects and measures to exploit the MM-wave frequency potential of commercial Si-SiGe production lines.