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Date:  Fri, April 16, 2021
Time:   2:30pm - 3:30pm
Location:  Online via Zoom, email for details
Speaker:  Ian Fujitani, MS Candidate

5G technologies enable a new generation of services and applications for smart cities, schools, homes, and transportation networks. The RF spectrum has a large amount of bandwidth above 5G frequencies that is unutilized. This section of the RF spectrum, known as beyond-5G, will provide vastly increased connection speeds and data capacities. These networks require the development of advanced devices to facilitate such upgrades. Three beyond-5G amplifiers are presented, along with the techniques used to develop them. These amplifiers are based on the Darlington configuration, a topology recognized for its ability to significantly improve the performance of its component transistors. By modifying the Darlington configuration and employing it with an advanced set of indium phosphide heterojunction bipolar transistors from Northrop Grumman Space Systems (NGSS), remarkable DC-200 GHz performance has been achieved. These amplifiers were compared with similar state-of-the-art high-frequency amplifiers using an original figure of merit (FOM). This FOM was structured so that amplifiers with excellent performance, low cost, and low power consumption have the largest FOM values. The FOM comparison shows that non-ideal simulations of the amplifiers have higher FOM than every state-of-the-art amplifier examined. These new amplifiers exhibit incredible promise for high-frequency operation for establishing beyond-5G networks. High-frequency microelectronics are especially susceptible to signals that exceed safe operating conditions. The possibility of applying self-resetting fuses as a form of microwave circuit protection is also investigated. Studies were completed to examine the capabilities of ceramic-, polymeric-, and electronic-type resettable fuses and compare them to the ideal fuse. This comparison indicates that self-resetting fuses lack the development required for protecting microwave circuits.

Bio
Ian Fujitani is currently an MS student in Electrical Engineering at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. He received his BS degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. His main research interests are in microwave engineering and design.