Design and Electrical Characterization of Wafer-level Micro-package for GaAs-based RFMEMS Switches

Abstract

Packaging of Micro-Electro-Mechanical system (MEMS) at wafer-level is one of the critical areas for its application, as the MEMS elements are delicate and can easily get damaged during wafer scribing or packaging process. We describe here a novel approach for wafer-level encapsulation of GaAs-based RFMEMS switches. EM simulation of the proposed microcaps has been carried out to study the effect of encapsulation on the switch performance. Both GaAs and Pyrex glass-based caps have been fabricated and the switches were encapsulated. The performance of the packaged switches has been characterized and the measured results show a close agreement with EM simulation.

Keywords:

• Benzo cyclo beutane
• EM simulation
• Microcap
• Radio frequency micro electro mechanical systems
• Wafer-level packaging

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sandeep Chaturvedi

Sandeep Chaturvedi received his M.Sc. in 1997 and M.Tech in Instrumentation in 1998 from Indore, India. He is presently pursuing his Ph. D from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. He is currently engaged in RF measurements and design of GaAs MMICs. His research interests and activities are in the field of device modeling, packaging and MMIC design. E-mail: [email protected]

G. Sai Saravanan

G. Sai Saravanan received his M.Tech in Laser and Electro-optical Engineering from Anna University, Chennai, India in 1992 and Ph.D in Physics from University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad, India in 2008. He is currently engaged in the fabrication of MMICs at GAETEC, Hyderabad. His research interests and activities are in the field of metal-semiconductor contacts, interconnects, packaging, reliability studies and pHEMT device processing. E-mail: [email protected]

Mahadeva K. Bhat

Mahadeva K. Bhat received his Post-graduation from Mangalore University, Mangalore, India in 1993. He is currently engaged in the fabrication of MMICs. His research interests and activities are in the field of pHEMTs and MHEMTs. E-mail: [email protected]

Sangam Bhalke

Sangam Bhalke obtained his B.E. (Electronics) from Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, Aurangabad, India in 1998. He is currently engaged in packaging of microwave and millimeter wave MMICs. E-mail: [email protected]

S. L. Badnikar

S. L. Badnikar obtained M.Sc. Physics (Electronics) from Nagpur University, Nagpur, India in 1980 and PhD from IIT, Madras, India in 2002. He has worked in the area of microwaves and millimeter waves and has wide experience in the design and development of microwave and millimeter wave components and subsystems. He has to his credit about 25 publications in the form of technical reports and papers. E-mail: [email protected]

R. Muralidharan

R. Muralidharan received his M.Sc in Physics in1975 from Chennai, India and Ph.D in 1985 from IISc, Bangalore, India. He has research experience of more than 25 years in the field of III-V compounds and has published more than 30 research papers in various international journals and conferences. He is presently the Director of Solid State Physics Laboratory, Delhi, India. E-mail: [email protected]

Shiban K. Koul

Shiban K. Koul is Professor at Centre for Applied Research in Electronics at IIT Delhi, India. He has authored/co-authored more than 100 Research Papers and 7 Books. His research interests are in the areas of Millimeter wave passive and active circuits, Development and Modeling of RFMEMS and Active antennas. E-mail: [email protected]