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

[1]  A. Jourdain,et al.  Investigation of the hermeticity of BCB-sealed cavities for housing (RF-)MEMS devices , 2002, Technical Digest. MEMS 2002 IEEE International Conference. Fifteenth IEEE International Conference on Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (Cat. No.02CH37266).

[3]  Fabrication and characterization of a low-temperature hermetic MEMS package bonded by a closed loop AuSn solder-line , 2003, The Sixteenth Annual International Conference on Micro Electro Mechanical Systems, 2003. MEMS-03 Kyoto. IEEE.

[4]  Linda P. B. Katehi,et al.  Silicon-based micromachined packages for high-frequency applications , 1999 .

[5]  Hal Greenhouse.  Hermeticity of electronic packages , 2000 .

[6]  L.P.B. Katehi,et al.  Fabrication and accelerated hermeticity testing of an on-wafer package for RF MEMS , 2004, IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques.

[7]  J. Papapolymerou,et al.  3-D-integrated RF and millimeter-wave functions and modules using liquid crystal polymer (LCP) system-on-package technology , 2004, IEEE Transactions on Advanced Packaging.

[8]  G. Elger,et al.  Optical leak detection for wafer level hermeticity testing , 2004, IEEE/CPMT/SEMI 29th International Electronics Manufacturing Technology Symposium (IEEE Cat. No.04CH37585).

[9]  Donald R Paul,et al.  Gas transport properties of thermotropic liquid‐crystalline copolyesters. II. The effects of copolymer composition , 1992 .

[10]  Michael Pecht,et al.  Handbook of Electronic Package Design , 1991 .

[11]  Anh-Vu Pham,et al.  Ultra low loss millimeter wave multichip module interconnects , 1998 .

[12]  P.B. Chu,et al.  Adapting multichip module foundries for MEMS packaging , 1998, Proceedings. 1998 International Conference on Multichip Modules and High Density Packaging (Cat. No.98EX154).

[13]  Z. Wei,et al.  Liquid crystal polymer (LCP) for microwave/millimeter wave multilayer packaging , 2003, IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium Digest, 2003.

[14]  Vijay K. Madisetti,et al.  System on Chip or System on Package? , 1999, IEEE Des. Test Comput..

[15]  Hai-Young Lee,et al.  Silicon MEMS packages for coplanar MMICs , 2000, 2000 Asia-Pacific Microwave Conference. Proceedings (Cat. No.00TH8522).