Switch Matrix Fits On An MIC

Microwave integrated circuit (MIC) technology has been applied to the fabrication of an extremely compact solid-state 8 x 2 antenna switch matrix by American Microwave Corp. The MIC hybrid switch matrix is produced from a single substrate for consistent performance with frequency and temperature. The 8 x 2 matrix provides better than 60 dB isolation between ports with less than 2 dB insertion loss at 1 GHz. The tiny device includes custom logic circuitry as well as fault-detection circuitry. Since the MIC is built on both sides of the substrate, a variety of other circuit functions can be added to a single-substrate design, including amplifiers, filters, bias tees, and power splitters/combiners.