Welcome to the 38th Annual GOMACTech Conference
MARCH 31-APRIL 3, 2014 - Las Vegas, NV

http://www.sheridanprinting.com/pcm/gomactech/gomactech.cfm

Title: Production RF-MEMS in CMOS for RF and Microwave Tuning

Abstract:
RF-MEMS have been in development for high performance RF tuning and reconfiguration for nearly two decades. Until recently, deployment of RF-MEMS has been limited by manufacturing,
cost and reliability challenges. An integrated high volume production capability for RF-MEMS targeted for low-cost portable electronics has been installed within the back end of a qualified 1.8V/5V/50V RF-CMOS process at 180nm. The RF-MEMS are hermetically sealed in a controlled environment at the wafer-level within the core flow and are robust through standard production flows of dicing, assembly and test vendors. Products have passed the standard JEDEC packaging stress for operation at -25C to 85C and are L1 qualified for production. The RF-MEMS devices are controlled by the integrated CMOS, which provides an integrated 50V power supply, high voltage level shifters and a flexible serial digital interface. Monolithic integration enables a compact form factor and provides a path to integrated RF active tuned functions such as amplifiers, filters and oscillators. These tuning arrays provide the highest performance tuning capability available in high volume production, leading the industry with low loss, high ratio, high power handling and ultra-linearity. They are ideally suited for front-end tuning applications in portable commercial wireless devices such as cell phones. Details on device and product performance will be presented including power and reliability testing. Key design and process developments enabling reproducibility and reliability will be discussed.