Evolution of the DOD microwave & millimeter wave monolithic IC program

Abstract

The Department of Defense (DOD) Microwave and Millimeter Wave Monolithic Integrated Circuit Program was the culmination of advances in materials research, semiconductor physics, transmission media, modeling and simulation, device development, and manufacturing process development stemming from research conducted prior to and during World War II. Conducted in the 1980s and 1990s, MIMIC's objective was to achieve compact, low-cost, and highly reliable millimeter and microwave circuit functions that could withstand extreme environments in weapon systems. The program provided a. unique architecture in which goals were framed in system terms to provide the linking mechanism between materials research, device design, modeling, simulation, and testing. The program can be applied to four major areas of high technology: radar, communications, countermeasures, counter-countermeasures, and smart weapons. Economy was achieved by fabricating both the active and passive-circuit functions and interconnections in monolithic form in semiinsulating gallium arsenide wafers. When the program was being formulated in 1986, the market was principally military, but when it ended in 1995, the market was primarily commercial. Success of the MIMIC Program makes it a useful model for the design of other programs to achieve national objectives for defense or to improve competitiveness in international markets. The objective of this paper is to define the global environment in which the program was planned, and to identify the elements that made it successful and therefore a valuable model, for public and private sector collaboration.