System and method for prototyping and fabricating complex microwave circuits

A method for manufacturing an RF integrated microwave circuit comprising the steps of:

• selecting a plurality of active device blocks for a monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) array that support multiple applications for the RE integrated microwave circuit, the applications comprising any one of an amplifier, an LNA, a gain block, a power amplifier, a mixer, an attenuator, a phase shifter, an up/down converter, and other RF functions allowing the RF integrated microwave circuit to support the multiple applications;
• placing the plurality of active device blocks on a surface to create the MMIC array for improving the performance of the RF integrated microwave circuit application;
• selecting one or more passive device blocks for achieving a desired impedance level of the RF integrated microwave circuit and that corresponds to one or more active device blocks of the MMIC array, the one or more passive device blocks supporting a least one application for the RF integrated microwave circuit, a location and arrangement of the passive devices being selected in a manner to improve the performance of the RF integrated microwave circuit application;
• installing the one or more passive device blocks on one or more substrate layers spaced from and separate from the MMIC array as off chip matching for the application being supported by the passive device blocks, whereby flexibility of the RF integrated microwave circuit application is increased since passive matching supported by the passive device blocks can be changed and adjusted quickly by changing the substrate layers;
• and
• coupling the MMIC array having the active device blocks to the one or more substrate layers supporting the passive device blocks.