Compatibility of ferroelectric films in development of transmission lines for MMIC

Abstract

Ferroelectric materials offer promising features that are useful for microelectronic devices but they have not been popular for microwave integrated circuits due their preparation methods which are not compatible with integrated circuit manufacturing. In contrast, new dielectric materials are required for microwave integrated circuits (MIC) so that their performance is improved. Improved materials are needed to build transmission lines, which are basic building blocks in integrated circuit architecture. The main issues facing monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) technology today are power consumption and reliability. These are due to the high loss, poor resistivity and low permittivity dielectric materials used currently in MMIC [1]. There is therefore an urgent need to replace existing dielectrics with those that offer better high frequency response in terms of less loss, high resistivity and high permittivity. The main issues facing monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) technology today are power consumption and reliability. These are due to the high loss, poor resistivity and low permittivity dielectric materials used currently in MMIC [1, 2]. There is therefore an urgent need to replace existing dielectrics with those that offer better high frequency response in terms of less loss, high resistivity and high permittivity.