STTR Phase I: CMOS-Compatible Oxide Films for Tunable Microwave Technology

这一小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是降低射频硬件的成本，使物联网应用更广泛地采用新一代移动的设备和服务。 该项目有可能帮助改变许多部门，包括医药和医疗监测和诊断、运输安全和基础设施、空气和水质监测以及灾害预警和恢复工作，特别是在有线基础设施不足或不存在的情况下。 该项目将有可能消除硬件开发商寻求直接将RF可调谐性纳入其产品的设计限制。这个小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目解决了一个持久的材料选择和加工挑战。 目前可用的功能材料家族通常需要高温处理，并且不能直接结合在用于移动的通信的电子器件的制造中，从而妨碍了频率的容易和高效的调谐。 在这个项目中，良好集成的多尺度材料设计，模拟，薄膜生长，可扩展的处理和性能测量将用于生产和优化新的可调介电材料的性能。 该项目将导致高性能，制造工艺兼容的可调器件，其中包含通过低得多的温度获得的新介电薄膜材料。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to reduce the cost of RF hardware, enabling wider adoption of new generations of mobile devices and services for Internet of Things applications. The project has the potential to help transform a number of sectors, including medicine and healthcare monitoring and diagnostics, transportation safety and infrastructure, air and water quality monitoring, and disaster warning and recovery efforts, particularly where wired infrastructure is inadequate or non-existent. The project will potentially remove design constraints for hardware developers seeking to directly incorporate RF tunability within their products.This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project addresses a persistent materials selection and processing challenge. Currently available families of functional materials typically require high-temperature processing and cannot be incorporated directly within the manufacturing of electronic devices for mobile communications, preventing facile and highly efficient tuning of frequencies. In this project, well-integrated multi-scale materials design, simulation, film growth, scalable processing and properties measurements will be employed to produce and optimize the performance of new tunable dielectric materials. The project will result in high-performance, manufacturing process-compatible tunable devices incorporating a new dielectric film material obtained through a much lower-temperature.