A Two Day National Seminar

On

Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuits (MMIC) Design, Fabrication and Applications

A two day National Seminar on Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuits (MMIC) Design, Fabrication and Applications, was organized by the Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering at Maharaja Agrasen Institute of Technology, Rohini, Delhi from 10th March 2022-11th March 2022. The seminar was sponsored by DRDO, Ministry of Defense, Govt. of India. The aim of this seminar was to gain a better insight into the MMIC and impart some skills and knowledge to the undergraduate students and all faculty members in the area of nano-scale devices. The reputed speakers from defense laboratory, Govt. of India and leading research organizations and academic institutions had been invited who presented their thoughts and innovative ideas on the subject. Around 60 faculty and staff members had attended the two day seminar and more than 200 students of 6th Semester of the ECE department had joined the seminar in physical mode. The inaugural ceremony was started by seeking the blessings of goddess Saraswati by lighting the lamp.

Prof. R.S Gupta delivered the welcome address in which he discussed about the importance of MMIC’s in various applications and the need for constant research and development in this field. The formal inaugural ceremony of this two day event was followed by the addresses from the Director of the Institute- Prof. Neelam Sharma, Executive Chairman of MATES- Shri S.P Aggarwal, Prof. M. L. Goyal, Vice-Chairman, Academics, MATES and Dr. Nand Kishore Garg, Founder & Chief Advisor MATES. Dr. S. S Deswal- Dean Academics, MAIT and all Head of Departments attended the seminar with complete zeal. Prof. Neelam Sharma, Director MAIT spoke about the use of MMIC in the industry today and the importance of more research and progress in this domain. She motivated the faculty and students alike to work in the field of research and publish their works. Shri S. P. Agrawal, Executive Chairman, MATES, also talked about the depth in today’s technology, revolving around the MMIC. He talked about the importance of the fabrication and design technologies, to make an effective and optimum MMIC. He emphasized on the need of such seminars for the updating and enhancing the technical knowledge of faculty and students through interaction with industry experts who are continuously involved in leading edge research and development.

Prof. M. L. Goyal, Vice-Chairman, Academics, MATES talked about the latest advancements in the field of MMIC’s. He motivated and encouraged the students and faculty members to keep on evolving themselves in the new technology era. Dr. Nand Kishore Garg, Founder Chairman and Chief Advisor MATES encouraged the participants to develop a scientific temperament and direct their research work towards development of ideas which can be implemented in the industry and benefit mankind. He emphasized on the need of such seminars for the updating and enhancing the technical knowledge of faculty and students through interaction with industry experts who are continuously involved in leading edge research and development. He thanked the speakers for sparing their valuable time and sharing their knowledge with the participants from the institute.

Prof. Sunil Kumar Mathur, Head of Department ECE, MAIT delivered the vote of thanks. He extended gratitude to the panel of speakers and members of the organizing committee for their support in conducting the Seminar. He encouraged the students to gain from the experience of the industry experts and use the same in giving direction to their work. Eminent speakers from DRDO, discussed and shared their plethora of knowledge with the audience.

Dr. Meena Mishra, Scientist G, DRDO, a distinguished Scientist at SSPL kicked off the session with her talk on “Overview on MMIC”. She is heading the division responsible for RF Characterization, Device modelling, MMIC and Module design of GaN HEMT based technology. A very interesting session in which Dr. Mishra explained and compared the various technologies and the importance and advancements of MMIC technology in developing various applications especially useful for defense applications. Dr. Mishra acquainted us with the GaN technology and why and how is the material being preferred for manufacturing of MMIC’s over silicon and other prominent materials. She talked about the various advantages, disadvantages and superior characteristics of GaN for the evolution of MMIC. She told us, MMIC, commonly pronounced as mimic, has great potential in constructing microwave circuit and equipment due to its advantages like light weight, small size and higher reliability. It is a type of IC that operates at microwave frequencies (300 MHz to 300 GHz). She made us believe that many circuits which are now functional with MMIC, would have been impossible to produce using conventional technologies.

Dr. S. K. Tomar, Scientist F, DRDO, talked about the “MMIC Assembly Techniques”. He is currently heading the SSPL, on GaN based devices and circuits development. He is a great scientist, with research experience of about fifteen years in the field of semiconductor devices and circuits at SSPL, DRDO. He astonished us by giving us glimpses of what DRDO has been developing in the field and how beneficial this is to the society at large. He also talked about various opportunities for students and faculties at SSPL, to pursue careers in research. He gave us various technologies and methods by which the MMIC’s were assembled to function as a circuit.

Dr. Rupesh Kumar Chaubey, is a Scientist F at SSPL and he talked about the “Basics of MMIC Fabrication”. He is presently working as additional director at SSPL, Delhi in the area of Semiconductor Device Fabrication and characterization for last 18 years. He is an expertise in the field of high-frequency, high-power devices. During his talk he explained the global technology roadmap, power of miniaturization, more than Moores and other important factors considered during the fabrication of an MMIC.

Next day paced up with the knowledgeable talk by Dr. Sudhir Kumar, Scientist E, DRDO, on the topic “MMIC Measurements”. He has more than fifteen years of experience in RF characterization of MMIC devices and circuits. He talked about the significance of measurements from an MMIC, without which the manufacturing is of no use. The various types of measurements and the methods adopted at SSPL, for carrying out the measurements at SSPL had been discussed.
The Last speaker for the seminar was Dr. Parul Gupta, Scientist F at SSPL. The topic for her talk was “MMIC Technology and Design Prospects”. In a very interactive and interesting session Dr. Gupta told us about the design and the various researches done over the years in this area.
She talked about the deep insights of Smith charts, used for measurements in MMIC. She also talked about the power amplifier design as an example of a successful MMIC being designed at SSPL, and its various prospects of design.

The seminar concluded on a knowledgeable note and thirst for more research opportunities by various students and faculty members.