COMPUTER AIDED DESIGN AND PROCESS MODELS FOR MICROWAVE AND MILLIMETER WAVE DEVICES AND CIRCUITS

THE TIME DOMAIN FINITE DIFFERENCE (TDFD) METHOD OF SOLVING ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELD PROBLEMS IS A RELATIVELY NEW METHODOLOGY WITH A PROVEN CAPABILITY FOR ACCURATELY ANALYZING PASSIVE MIC/MMIC STRUCTURES. THE TECHNIQUE SUPPLIES COMPLETE SCATTERING MATRICES IN EITHER THE TIME OR FREQUENCY DOMAIN. MILLIONS OF FIELD POINTS CAN BE ANALYZED IN PROBLEM "CUBES" WELL OVER 100 CELLS ON A SIDE. WITH SPECIAL PURPOSE PIPELINED HARDWARE DEVELOPED ON A U.S. ARMY PHASE II SBIR, FULL PROBLEM SOLUTIONS CAN BE CARRIED OUT IN MINUTES, THE PROPOSERS WILL SOON BEGIN A DARPA SBIR TO TIE THIS NEW METHODOLOGY IN WITH EXISTING CAD AND CAE SOFTWARE EFFORTS. THE PROPOSERS ARE UNAWARE OF ANY SIMILAR RECENTLY PUBLISHED LITERATURE ON TDFD METHODOLOGY AND ACTIVE MIC AND MMIC DEVICES. HOWEVER, THE PROPOSERS HAVE WORKED IN A VERY SIMILAR AREA: THE TDFD ANALYSIS OF THE LIGHTNING LEADER. THIS IS A NONLINEAR PROBLEM REQUIRING A FULL ACCOUNTING OF ELECTRONS AND POSITIVE NEGATIVE IONS. THIS HAS A FULL ANALOGY WITH THE ANALYSIS OF ACTIVE SOLID STATE DEVICES SINCE BOTH RELATE PARTICLE VELOCITIES TO THE ELECTRIC FIELDS THROUGH MOBILITIES. WE CAN ANALYZE IN BOTH A LINEAR AND NONLINEAR MODE; THE LATTER TYPICALLY INCREASES THE ANALYSIS TIME BY AN ORDER OF MAGNITUDE. ALL OF THE CHARACTERISTICS CLAIMED FOR PASSIVE DEVICES SHOULD ALSO HOLD FOR ACTIVE DEVICE ANALYSIS: GOOD ACCURACY, FULL AND DETAILED MODELING OF THE GEOMETRY, AND RAPID ANALYSIS IN EITHER THE TIME OR FREQUENCY DOMAINS. THE BENEFITS WILL ARISE FROM MORE ACCURATELY PREDICTING THE DEVICE BEHAVIOR PRIOR TO FABRICATION. THE COMMERCIAL APPLICATION IS IN MARKETING THIS SOFTWARE, WITH A POSSIBLE HARDWARE OPTION.