Enabling technologies

  
 
The Solid State RF components and GaAs/GaN Foundry unit is a main asset for the company as to the development of innovative enabling technologies for Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar systems applications.
 
 
 
 
 
 


 
Key competences

• Design of Solid State devices and related ICs
• GaAs/GaN Foundry for IC fabrication
• Design of advanced RF components
• R&D of Emerging enabling technologies

Activities

• Design and test of solid state devices and related microwave (MMIC) and millimeter-wave (MIMIC) monolithic circuits
• Production of key MMIC components Design and Test of  advanced solid state RF component Design and Test of  advanced solid state RF components and sub-systems

Technologies

• GaAs/GaN Integrated Circuits
• High integration packaging design based on MCM-L and LTCC technologies
• On-wafer testing of MMIC components and high speed testing of TRM functions.

Applications

• Transmit/Receive Modules for Phased Array Applications
• High Power Solid State Amplifiers
• Integrated Receivers
• mm-Wave transceiver modules

GaAs/GaN Foundry
The "driving" force behind the SELEX Sistemi Integrati Foundry has been, and still is, the need to create an in-house advanced technological capability for its core-business enabling technologies.
For the last 30 years the Foundry has been committed to providing state-of-the-art GaAs and GaN components, establishing a high level of technical capability in the design, processing and assembly of these components.
The Foundry production capability has evolved with time in response to the growing demand of MMIC components. Today the facility, occupying more than 700m2 of clean-room and equipped with state-of the art tools has a 4-inch production capability for more than 1000 wafers per annum.   
The currently available MMIC production processes are:

• half-micro MESFET technology for gain, control and power applications up to X-Band
• half-micron PHEMT technology for control and power applications up to X-Band
• quarter-micron PHEMT technology for gain, control and power applications up to Ku-Band

 
 
 
   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Microelectronics at SELEX Sistemi Integrati are oriented towards:

• developing substratum technologies for the integration of monolithic components operating at frequencies of up to approximately 40 GHz
• developing interconnection and packaging technologies

The purpose is to identify integration, interconnection and packaging solutions which do not degrade performance of active MMIC components and which can therefore support high-frequency (up to 40 GHz), high power density and watt dissipation microwave signal management. The required degree of integration also involves combining the command and configuration digital signals of each individual module with the insertion of FPGAs having various I/Os.

SELEX Sistemi Integrati circuitry skills rest on its ability to design units based on different substratum technologies:

• LTCC (Low Temperature Cofired Ceramic)
• HTCC (Low Temperature Cofired Ceramic)
• MCM-L (Multi Chip Module-Laminated)
• Thin Film Technology

As far as Thin Film Technology is concerned, SELEX Sistemi Integrati has an in-house R&D and production facility capable of processing different substrata (Al2O3, AIN, LTCC, Si, Quartz, Glass, ...) and of integrating passives (air bridges, resistors, capacitors, filters, ...)

The Interconnection & Packaging skills are focused on:

• interconnection technologies: Chip&Wire, RibbonBonding, FlipChip, BGA,...
• so-called active “Thermal Management” solutions, for direct integration on each individual board (active mini heat loop, micro-channel,...)
• management of packages capable of supporting both electrical and optical inputs and outputs, management of packages capable of supporting both electrical and optical inputs and outputs.
  

   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
"Photonics" at SELEX Integrated Systems are oriented towards:

• development of technologies and concepts for optical processing of microwave signals and for digital links
• utilisation of skills and technologies for integrated Optics, developed in the in-house Lithium Niobate foundry, also targeting the external market

The technology base on which the SELEX Sistemi Integrati "Photonics culture" rests is a consolidated experience in the manufacture of circuitry components in Integrated Optics. These skills, internationally acknowledged as state-of-the-art, have enabled the design of key components for Photonics systems development. Electro-optic wide-band modulators in LINbO3 and in polymeric, high-extinction and linearised materials, tunable acoustic-optical filters and high-speed commutation switches are representative examples of these products.

The basic technology chiefly uses Lithium Niobate as a circuit substratum, in which thin film processes and spreading of dopants allow the manufacture of optical guides and electrodes for coupling signals to the optical carrier. The termination of monomode fibres on the circuit manufactured in this way allows the device to be easily connected to the optical fibre system.

SELEX Sistemi Integrati is the recognised leader in Europe for photonics applied to defence systems and in high-power integrated optics (1060 nm) applications.

SELEX Sistemi Integrati has developed a capability for integrating ‘off the shelf’ components and state-of-the-art optical technologies into microwave signal processing units and for optical sensor devices.
 
The main applications of photonics are:

• the remotisation of antennas, through optical fibre links (decoys)
• signal distribution and elaboration in active array antennas (optical beam forming network)
• the making of non dispersive delay lines
• transponders for antenna calibration
• real-time spectrum analysis of received signals
• generation of RF frequencies, micro- and millimeter waves and arbitrary waveforms
• signal filtering
• very high-speed A-D conversion (BW > 20 GHz)