MMIC Coatings and Encapsulation for Non-Hermetic, Low Cost, Transmit/Receive Modules with the Reliability of Hermetic Packaging

The objective of this SBIR project is to develop and commercialize a protective overcoat passivation process for wafer−level sealing of Monolithic Microwave/Millimeter wave IC (MMIC). The scarce supply of hermetic packaging choices and the high cost of mil−spec integrated circuit (IC) components used in military and aerospace applications have sparked research focused on using commercial off−the−shelf (COTS) packaging, such as plastic encapsulated microcircuit (PEM), while maintaining hermetic packaging reliability. ALD-Cap is a novel wafer level encapsulation technology that is suitable for hermetic-like protection of MMIC devices. ALD-Cap employs Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) to deposit a film-stack that is optimized to adhere to the MMIC and to provide a defect-free barrier for moisture and corrosion. A successful phase I project was focused on the development of ALD-Cap, the demonstration of wafer level encapsulation using ALD-Cap and the evaluation of cost factors. Phase II project will be focused on the refinement of ALD-Cap film stack, the ALD process and equipment and the integration of ALD-Cap into MMIC fabrication process-flow to achieve low-cost, manufacturable MIL-STD 883E MMIC devices in non-hermetic configuration. Sundew Technologies collaborates with leading MMIC manufacturers to commercialize ALD-Cap and incorporate the technology into MMIC production lines. During follow-on Phase III an ALD-Cap system product will be offered to DoD key components, prime contractors and the private commercial market.