High-throughout ferrite film deposition process for integrated RF and microwave devices

Metamagnetics addresses the Armys need for a new spin-spray deposition capability of uniform high crystalline quality, low-loss ferrite and thick ferrite/insulator multilayer films onto large surface area PCB panels by developing an innovative extension of the spin-spray system to larger substrates (up to 24x36). These films will be optimized for RF/magnetic properties, such as dielectric constant and loss tangent, permeability, remnant magnetization, uniaxial anisotropy, ferrimagnetic resonance (FMR) frequency and linewidth, magnetic softness, etc., as required for integrated RF device applications. Historically, the integration of ferrite materials in thin film form onto PCBs or MMICs has proven challenging because of high processing temperatures, risk of contamination of semiconductor fabrication processes or limited coverage areas. Our proposed large-scale spin-spray system brings the benefits of high-quality ferrite films with conventional micro-component technologies. The spin spray process is a low-cost, low-temperature, direct deposition ferrite plating method with a high deposition rate (up to 100 nm/minute) and the ability to produce high-quality, high-density, crystalline, ferrite films. To-date, it has only been demonstrated on small laboratory scales and there is a critical need to develop this technique to accommodate large surface area PCB panel, which we propose to address.