Proceedings of Asia-Pacific Microwave Conference 2006

38–80 GHz SPDT Traveling Wave Switch MMIC

Utilizing Fully Distributed FET
Hiroshi Mizutani, Naotaka Iwata, Yoichiro Takayama*, and Kazuhiko Honjo**
1753 SHIMONUMABE NAKAHARA-KU, KAWASAKI, 211-8666, JAPAN
COMPOUND SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE DIVISION, NEC ELECTRONICS CORPORATION,
Tel: +81-44-435-1568, Fax: +81-44-435-1915, E-mail: hiroshi.mizutani@necel.com

*2167 SHOSHA, HIMEJI, 671-2201, JAPAN

UNIVERSITY OF HYOGO
Tel: +81-792-67-4870, Fax: +81-792-67-4870, E-mail: takayama@eng.u-hyogo.ac.jp

**1-5-1 CHOFUGAOKA, CHOFU, TOKYO, 182-8585, JAPAN

THE UNIVERSITY OF ELECTRO-COMMUNICATIONS
Tel: +81-424-43-5237, Fax: +81-424-43-5230, E-mail: honjo@ice.uec.ac.jp

Abstract — This is the first report of the traveling
wave SPDT switch using the fully distributed FET
(FD-FET). The broadband characteristics were
successfully obtained over more than an octave
frequency range from Ka to W bands for the
millimeter-wave applications. From 38 to 80 GHz, the
low insertion loss of less than 2.1 dB, and the high
isolation of better than 25.5 dB, were achieved by using
the AlGaAs/InGaAs hetero-junction FET traveling
wave switch (TWSW) technology. In the design, the
difference between the quasi- and the fully distributed
switch circuit has been investigated.
Index Terms — SPDT switch, distributed FET,
millimeter-wave, MMIC, traveling wave.
I. INTRODUCTION
The demands for the millimeter-wave MMICs
have been increasing rapidly, with emerging the
millimeter-wave applications such as the high speed
wireless LAN systems and the automotive radar
systems. SPDT MMIC switches are quite important
elements for the RF communications systems. A
number of SPDT MMIC switches have been
reported for the millimeter-wave applications [1]-[3].
Below 60 GHz applications, GaAs MESFETs or
Hetero-Junction FETs (HJFETs) are dominantly
employed as switching devices. For more than 60-
GHz applications, PIN diodes have been widely
employed. At higher frequencies such as above 60-
GHz, the reduction of on-resistance and off-
capacitance are essential to obtain a low insertion
loss as well as a high isolation. The PIN diode can
provide small on-resistance and small off-
capacitance by optimizing the junction area. On the
other hand, comparing with the FET switch, the PIN
diode has a inconvenience of high power dissipation
in the control bias circuitry and incompatibility with
MMIC fabrication technologies.
In addition, with emerging the millimeter-wave
applications such as the Ultra-Wide Band (UWB)
systems, the broadband characteristics are
essentially needed. The traveling wave switch
(TWSW) technologies utilizing a fully distributed
FET (FD-FET), proposed in [4], indicated the
broadest band characteristics from dc to 110-GHz
with low insertion loss and high isolation.
Since the TWSW concept was introduced in [4],
many SPDT MMIC switches utilizing the TWSW
concept have been demonstrated the broadband
characteristics at the millimeter-wave frequencies
[1]-[3].
In this work, the comparison study on the circuit
configuration between a quasi-distributed switch
circuit [1]-[3] utilizing the artificial transmission
line and the TWSW using the FD-FET will be made.
The successfully developed TWSW SPDT MMIC
using the FD-FET will be reported with the
broadband characteristics over more than an octave
frequency range from Ka to W bands with the small
chip size.
II. CIRCUIT CONFIGURATION
Firstly, the difference in the circuit configuration
between the quasi-distributed switch circuit and the
fully distributed switch circuit will be investigated.
The circuit configuration of the quasi-distributed
switch circuit consists of the shunted lumped FETs
and the transmission lines, which function as the

Copyright 2006 IEICE

artificial transmission line for the on-state. The
equivalent circuit of the quasi-distributed switch
utilizing the artificial transmission line is shown in
Fig.1. The artificial transmission line can be
modeled by the constant-k π-type low pass filter
based on the image parameter method. This filter
has a cutoff frequency fc which can be expressed as
1
fc =
of the transmission line. The fully distributed switch
circuit using FD-FET can be considered as the
ultimate feature of which lth is zero, because it has
no cutoff frequency as shown in Fig.2. The ripple
for the curve of the FD-FET is caused by the
impedance mismatch with the port impedance.
㪇
㪄㪈

π LTL (C off + CTL )

(1)
㪄㪉

㪠㫅㫊㪼㫉㫋㫀㫆㫅㩷㪣㫆㫊㫊㩷㩿㪻㪙㪀
㪄㪊 㪈㪇㪇㩷㫌㫄
where Coff is the source-drain capacitance in the 㪄㪋 㪈㪌㪇㩷㫌㫄
pinched-off state FET. LTL and CTL are the 㪄㪌 㪉㪇㪇㩷㫌㫄
㪄㪍 㪝㪛㪄㪝㪜㪫
inductance and capacitance of the transmission line
㪄㪎
connecting two FETs, respectively. Thus, the
㪄㪏
artificial transmission line has a significant demerit 㪄㪐
for using at the millimeter-wave frequencies, that is, 㪄㪈㪇
it has the cutoff frequency derived from a low-pass 㪇 㪌㪇 㪈㪇㪇 㪈㪌㪇 㪉㪇㪇
filter. Because it is not a complete transmission line, 㪝㫉㪼㫈㫌㪼㫅㪺㫐㩷㩿㪞㪟㫑㪀
then it is restricted to realize the broadband MMIC
Fig. 2 Frequency response of insertion loss in the quasi-
switch only below the cutoff frequency.
distributed SPST switch circuit and the fully distributed
SPST switch circuit
lTL lTL lTL
㪉㪅㪌㪜㪄㪈㪈
㪈㪇㪇㩷㫌㫄
Coff Coff 㪈㪌㪇㩷㫌㫄
㪉㪜㪄㪈㪈
㪉㪇㪇㩷㫌㫄
㪞㫉㫆㫌㫇㩷㪛㪼㫃㪸㫐㩷㩿㫊㪼㪺㪀

㪝㪛㪄㪝㪜㪫
㪈㪅㪌㪜㪄㪈㪈

㪈㪜㪄㪈㪈

㪌㪜㪄㪈㪉
LTL LTL LTL

㪇
CTL/2 CTL/2 㪇 㪌㪇 㪈㪇㪇 㪈㪌㪇 㪉㪇㪇
Coff CTL/2 Coff 㪝㫉㪼㫈㫌㪼㫅㪺㫐㩷㩿㪞㪟㫑㪀

Fig. 3 Frequency response of group delay in the quasi-

Fig. 1 Equivalent circuit of quasi-distributed switch circuit, distributed SPST switch circuit and the fully distributed
so-called the artificial transmission line SPST switch circuit

On the contrary, because the FD-FET functions as
the complete transmission line for the pinched-off
state FET, it has no cutoff frequency itself. The
TWSW employing the FD-FET has a merit of no
frequency limit in the MMIC design.
Fig.2 shows the calculated insertion loss of the
SPST switch in the quasi- and the fully distributed
switch circuit from dc to 200 GHz. For the quasi-
distributed switch circuit, the dependence of the
transmission line length lth was studied for the
artificial transmission line composed of three shunt
FETs. The lower cutoff frequency will be obtained
for the longer transmission line length lth, due to the
much larger inductance. To realize the higher cutoff
frequency, it is important to minimize the length lth
Fig.3 indicates the calculated group delay from dc
to 200 GHz for each switch circuit. Two groups are
observed in this figure. One is the quasi-distributed
switch group. They have the significant change of
the group delay around the cutoff frequency. But,
the fully distributed switch circuit using FD-FET
shows almost constant value of the group delay for
all frequencies.
As mentioned above, the TWSW technology
utilizing FD-FET has a great capability in the view
of no cutoff frequency and the constant group delay
for designing the millimeter-wave broadband SPDT
MMIC switches.
 III. MMIC DESIGN
The Schematic diagram of the developed SPDT
MMIC switch is shown in Fig.4. The TWSW
technology using the FD-FET has been introduced
in each branch of the developed SPDT circuit.
FD-FET
Fig. 4 Schematic diagram of developed SPDT MMIC switch
Port 2
ON Branch Port 1
Fig. 5 Equivalent circuit of developed SPDT MMIC switch
Fig.5 shows the equivalent circuit of the
developed SPDT MMIC switch. In the practical
switching operation, the shunt FD-FET for one
branch is biased in the pinched-off state and the FD-
FET for another branch is biased in the open-
channel state. In the pinched-off state, the
equivalent circuit of the FD-FET is represented by a
nearly lossless transmission line model. For the
open-channel state, the FD-FET is expressed as a
lossy transmission line model.
Due to it’s distributed circuit effect, the input
impedance of the FD-FET has the imaginary part.
Then, the length of the microstrip transmission line
of each branch connected to T-junction was less
than a quarter-wave length at the upper operating
frequency to obtain the broadband characteristics
from 38 to 80 GHz. The length and width of the
microstrip transmission lines connected to the
output ports was determined to minimize the
insertion loss and the return loss at each port from
38 to 80 GHz.
IV. MMIC PERFORMANCE
Fig.6 shows the top view of the developed SPDT
MMIC switch. The chip size is as small as 1.9 x 0.8
mm2. Because each branch consists of only one FD-
FET of which finger length is as long as 400-μm
without any internal matching circuits or any
resonant circuits, so that the small chip size can be
The SPST TWSW indicates better isolation for
higher frequencies. To obtain the isolation of more
than 25 dB at the lowest design frequency of 38
GHz, the length of each FD-FET in the TWSW
circuit was designed to be 400-μm [4].
FD-FET
Port 3
OFF Branch
obtained even for SPDT MMIC switch with
broadband characteristics.
Fig. 6 Top view of developed SPDT MMIC switch
The small signal characteristics of the developed
SPDT MMIC switch were measured from dc to 110
GHz. Fig.7 shows the insertion loss and the isolation
of the developed SPDT MMIC switch with respect
to the frequencies. The solid curve indicates the
calculated data, and the dotted curve indicates the
measured ones. The gate bias condition of the FD-
FET was –5 V for the on-branch, and 0 V was
applied to the gate of the off-branch. One of the
output ports was terminated with 50 ohms.
The measured and the calculated data indicated
very good agreement each other. The measured
broadband characteristics were achieved from 38 to
80 GHz, just as designed. The measured insertion
loss was better than 2.1 dB, and the measured
isolation was more than 25.5 dB from 38 to 80 GHz.
At 38 GHz, the insertion loss was 2.1 dB, and the
isolation was 25.5 dB. At 76 GHz, the insertion loss between the branch port and the FD-FET, and
of 1.7 dB and the isolation of 32.3 dB were obtained. between the T-junction and the common port.
Fig.8 shows the return loss for the on-state of the
0 developed SPDT MMIC switch. The measured data
were also in good agreement with the calculated
Insertion Loss ones. The measured return loss at the common port
–10 was more than 10 dB from 38 to 70 GHz. The
measured return loss at the branch port was more
IL & Iso (dB)

than 10 dB from 38 to 80 GHz except near 60 GHz.

–20 The maximum return loss of 8.4 dB was measured
Isolation
at 60 GHz.

–30 V. CONCLUSION
The TWSW SPDT MMIC switch using the FD-
–40 FET has been successfully demonstrated. The
0 50 100 developed SPDT MMIC switch indicated the
Frequency (GHz)
broadband characteristics over more than an octave
Fig.7 Frequency dependence of insertion loss (IL) and frequency range from Ka to W bands with the small
isolation (Iso) of developed SPDT MMIC switch from dc chip area. The SPDT MMIC switch provided low
to 110 GHz. (solid and dotted curves indicate calculated insertion loss of less than 2.1 dB and high isolation
and measured data, respectively.) of more than 25.5 dB from 38 to 80 GHz.
The presented extremely broadband SPDT MMIC
0 switch would be available for the millimeter-wave
UWB communications and radar systems.
Port 2

–10
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
RL (dB)

The authors wish to acknowledge the great

encouragement of H. Hirayama and K. Onda.

–20 Port 1
–30
0 50 100
Frequency (GHz)
Fig.8 Frequency dependence of return loss (RL) for on-
state of developed SPDT MMIC switch from dc to 110
GHz. (solid and dotted curves indicate calculated and
measured data, respectively.)
In this design, the upper frequency of the developed
SPDT switch was determined by the cutoff
frequency of the low-pass filter-like characteristics,
which was derived from the lines with several
widths including the bonding pad and the T-junction
with the OFF-branch. The wider bandwidth could
be obtained to optimize the line configuration
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