Nicole Andrea Evers

Design and Development of a Package Using LCP for RF/Microwave MEMS Switches

We present the development of an ultrahigh moisture-resistant enclosure for RF microelectromechanical system (MEMS) switches using liquid-crystal polymer (LCP). A cavity formed in LCP has been laminated, at low temperature, onto a silicon MEMS switch to create a package. The LCP-cap package has an insertion loss of less than 0.2 dB at X-band. E595 outgas tests demonstrate that the LCP material is suitable for constructing reliable packages without interfering with the operation of the MEMS switch. The package also passes Method 1014, MIL-STD-883 gross leak, and fine leak hermeticity tests

Direct determination of the bias-dependent series parasitic elements in SiC MESFETs

We propose a simple and direct extraction procedure for the determination of bias-dependent parasitic resistive elements in SiC MESFETs. This extraction technique is based on a frequency evolution of measured Z-parameters of a metal semiconductor field effect transistor (MESFET) under active bias conditions. Using this method, the equivalent-circuit parameters of an SiC MESFET have been extracted at different bias points, and the variation of the bias-dependent series resistive elements studied. The measured and modeled S-parameters demonstrate a good correlation up to 20 GHz.

Multilayer Organic Multichip Module Implementing Hybrid Microelectromechanical Systems

We present the design and development of an organic package that is compatible with fully released RF microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). The multilayer organic package consists of a liquid-crystal polymer film to provide near hermetic cavities for MEMS. The stack is further built up using organic thin-film polyimide. To demonstrate the organic package, we have designed and implemented a 2-bit true-time delay X-band phase shifter using commercially available microelectromechanical switches. The packaged phase shifter has a measured insertion loss of 2.45 plusmn 0.12 dB/bit at 10 GHz. The worst case phase variation of the phase shifter at 10 GHz is measured to less than 5deg. We have also conducted temperature cycling (-65degC to 150degC) and 85/85 to qualify the packaging structures.

Development of Multilayer Organic Modules for Hermetic Packaging of RF MEMS Circuits

We present the design and development of a multilayer organic module that can integrate microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) into a system-in-a-package (SiP). A cavity formed in liquid crystal polymer (LCP) has been laminated, at low temperature, onto a MEMS silicon switch to create a hermetically sealed package. Multilayer organic dielectrics can be integrated on top of LCP films to form a 3D SiP module. The entire SiP hermetically sealed package has a total insertion loss of ~0.1 dB at X-band. The package also passes Method 1014, MIL-STD-883 gross leak and fine leak hermeticity tests. We have demonstrated a 2-bit RF MEMS TTD (true-time delay) switched line phase shifter in this multilayer organic module. The phase shifter achieves an average insertion loss of 1.8 dB/bit, with less than 3deg phase shift variation

Development of a Hermetically Sealed Enclosure for MEMS in Chip-on-Flex Modules Using Liquid Crystalline Polymer (LCP)

We present the development of a hermetic shield packaging enclosure for RF microelectromechanical system switches (MEMS) using Liquid Crystal Polymer (LCP). A cavity formed in LCP has been laminated, at low temperature, onto a Si MEMS switch to create a hermetically sealed package. The hermetically sealed enclosure is a stack-up layer of the multi-layer organic chip-on-flex system-on-a-package (SOP). The entire SOP hermetically sealed package has a total insertion loss of ∼0.5 dB at X-band. E595 outgas tests demonstrate that the LCP package is reliable and hermetically protects the MEMS switch.Copyright