SBIR Phase I: Low Cost, High Bandwidth RF Switch

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This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project is aimed at developing Micro Metal Sphere (MMS) fabrication technology for Radio-Frequency (RF) Micro-Electro-Mechanical-System (MEMS) switch. The target applications are high-bandwidth RF switches and digitally-tunable RF modules that can be used in wireless communication systems including cell phones. The MMS technology is distinguished from conventional cantilever or bridge type MEMS switches in that it does not have a suspended element and no restoring force is involved in the switch actuation. In conventional MEMS switches, the restoring force is often not able to overcome interfacial forces over time and causes the infamous stiction that leads to permanent failure. Since the MMS switch is designed to switch with free body, it does not suffer from mechanical wear and possibly free from stiction. In addition, the MMS technology can provide an extremely cost effective packaging solution replacing commonly used labor intensive and costly wafer level packaging technology. Since the MMS technology is integration-friendly with conventional silicon CMOS technology, it can be placed on top of any CMOS IC. Therefore, anticipated benefit with the MMS technology extends to size reduction. Also the MMS technology is expected to lower the activation voltage below 10V.The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is enabling mobile-phone makers to design smaller, lower-cost smart phones, entry-level handsets, and other mobile devices, which will accelerate the convergence of cell phones and computing devices for the next wave of mobile innovations. The MMS technology will enable lower-cost smart phones that will either complement or replace notebook PCs among mobile users who access data and communicate anywhere for work, study, social networking, and entertainment. The global impact will be enormous because, of about 1.3 billion cell phones to be produced in 2011, of which 57% will be multi-band handsets using RF MEMS components. The MMS technology will enable versatile and high-quality cell-phone communications at a lower cost integrating voice, text, data, and video for the average consumers worldwide. With the inherent stacking and scalability, the MMS technology will also be able to extend the life of popular silicon CMOS technologies currently facing the fundamental limits to further scaling. For RF components in cell phones, the total addressable market (TAM) is $1.9 billion and served available market (SAM) is $460 million by 2011.