RF MEMS Packaging for Severe Environments

XCom Wireless is a developer of RF MEMS relays, high-performance components that have been identified as a critical technology for the next generation of defense and commercial electronics. The XCom Wireless process for developing RF MEMS provides adirect alternative to solid-state devices so communications and radar equipment manufacturers can easily upgrade to this technology, saving weight, space, power, and money. The proposed program is to test the ruggedness of the present RF MEMS packagedesign under severe battlefield conditions of physical and thermal shock, acceleration, and corrosion. Causes of device failure will be examined through microscopy, with a plan developed for Phase II material and process studies. The goal of thisresearch and development effort will be to forward the state of the art of RF MEMS packaging with a flexible, modular, rugged hermetic seal offering the capability for operation under severe environments. A general suitability of this work towards otherRF MEMS device efforts may be possible, but specific advantages of the temperature-tolerant XCom Wireless relays will be employed. The development of relay prototypes is performed in a complementary DARPA-sponsored RF MEMS packaging program, with thetesting of severe conditions and failure analysis of these packages supported by this proposed effort. Hybrid assembly of RF MEMS promises low-cost and rapid manufacturing potential for specialized, high-performance defense needs, and access to robustencapsulation techniques allows packaging options with improved survivability and operability under extreme battlefield conditions. The direct benefits to the Department of Defense from supporting this effort include the analysis and extension of a novelpackaging scheme for RF MEMS relays and other micromachined components. The leveraging of XCom Wireless expertise with a DARPA package design program allows for the low-cost development of fully-ruggedized versions of compact, highly functional MEMStechnologies already in development for multiple government agencies and commercial product programs. The package technologies to be analyzed and modified in this program are well-suited to the needs of high-performance RF front-end subsystems, and theindividual relays to be packaged are specifically designed to meet military and satellite specifications requirements. The benefit to the critical civilian radio industry is significant, in that the markets for high performance RF components andsubsystems is large and growing at 35% yearly. The test and instrumentation community, the aerospace communications and radar community, and defense wireless system developers have been identified as the first adopters of RF MEMS technology, with relevantMEMS-enabled sales expected to grow to over $200 million in 2005. Consumer markets for RF MEMS include fixed broadband equipment, wireless LAN hardware, and civilian handsets, and are projected to reach $1.5 billion in 2005.