GOALI: Mm-Wave Reconfigurable Additive Manufactured Packaging Systems (RAMPS) using Pulsed Picosecond Laser Processing

该项目的目的是研究高频微电子电路的封装技术，为下一代无线系统提供关键的性能增强。该方法基于低成本增材制造或3D打印工艺的使用，并需要在最小特征尺寸，可重新配置的电子和机械结构以及毫米波频率电路设计等领域取得进展。 将动态重新配置毫米波系统所需的功能直接集成到3D打印包装中的方法是一个新概念，因为目前的包装技术主要只用于提供环境保护，而没有电子用途。 因此，新的结构化电子封装概念可能会显著颠覆微电子封装行业，因为功能性封装将提供执行诸如实时改变工作频率和操纵天线波束等操作的能力。 该技术可能会影响重要的新兴应用，如5G无线，物联网以及自动驾驶和联网车辆。 它还可以扩展到可穿戴电子产品、生物电子设备和人工器官等领域。除了培训研究生外，该项目还将通过为高中教师和学生提供培训机会来影响K-12教育。 本科生也将参与研究经验的本科生项目和多学科的高级顶点设计项目，由行业合作伙伴概述。主要研究人员将继续强调来自不同背景和代表性不足的群体的学生参与工程，该项目的技术目标是通过展示直接集成低温封装和低温封装的新方法，推动毫米波封装技术的发展。芯片结构电子学其目的是研究使用增材制造的动态结构进行可重构包装的概念。具体而言，该研究将涉及一种混合、直接打印增材制造策略，该策略将熔丝制造和微点胶相结合，以保形方式直接在微电子器件或组件上形成封装基础。关键的电子和机械特征将使用脉冲皮秒激光加工来定义，目标最小特征尺寸为3-5微米。 性能目标包括可变电抗器件，在上Ka波段调谐大于5：1，在V波段互连损耗小于0.7 dB/cm。 拟议的工作有可能在功能性电子封装领域做出重大贡献，这可能是直接打印增材制造在经济和技术上最重要的应用之一。到目前为止，还没有增材制造的可调谐器件在毫米波频率下得到证实。此外，不存在可以将低温处理、保形集成和动态实时可重构性的优点联合收割机组合的现有封装技术。 最后，由于所提出的方法是通用的性质，它将广泛适用于广泛的微波/毫米波通信和传感系统。该项目的行业合作伙伴带来了微波包装和制造方面的专业知识，并将在指导调查以最大限度地提高未来商业影响方面发挥关键作用。

The aim of this project is to investigate packaging technologies for high frequency microelectronic circuits that will provide critical performance enhancements for next generation wireless systems. The approach is based on the use of low cost additive manufacturing or 3D printing processes, and will require advances in areas such as minimum feature size, reconfigurable electronic and mechanical structures, and millimeter-wave frequency circuit design. The proposed approach of integrating the functionality needed to dynamically reconfigure a mm-wave system directly into the 3D-printed packaging is a new concept, since current packaging technologies predominantly serve only to provide environmental protection with no electronic purpose. The new structural electronic packaging concept could therefore significantly disrupt the microelectronics packaging industry, as the functional packaging would provide the ability to perform actions such as changing operating frequencies and steering antenna beams in real-time. The technology could impact important emerging applications such as 5G wireless, the internet of things and autonomous and connected vehicles. It could also expand into fields such as wearable electronics, bio-electronic devices, and artificial organs. In addition to training graduate students the project will impact K-12 education by offering training opportunities to high school teachers and students. Undergraduate students will also be involved through Research Experience for Undergraduates projects and multi-disciplinary Senior Capstone Design projects that are outlined by the industry partner. The principal investigators will continue to emphasize the participation of students from diverse backgrounds and underrepresented groups in engineering, and include a focus on the attainment of global perspectives and leadership skills as part of their training.The technical goal of the project is to advance the state of the art in millimeter wave packaging technology by demonstrating new approaches for direct integration of low temperature on-package and on-chip structural electronics. The aim is to study concepts for reconfigurable packaging using dynamic structures that are fabricated using additive manufacturing. Specifically, the research will involve a hybrid, direct print additive manufacturing strategy that combines fused filament fabrication and micro-dispensing to form the package foundation in a conformal manner directly onto the microelectronic device or component. The critical electronic and mechanical features will be defined using pulsed picosecond laser machining with a targeted minimum feature size of 3-5 microns. Performance goals include variable reactance devices with greater than 5:1 tuning in the upper Ka-band and interconnects with less than 0.7 dB/cm loss in the V-band. The proposed work has potential to make significant contributions in the area of functional electronic packaging, which may prove to be one of the most economically and technically important applications of direct print additive manufacturing. To date, no additive manufactured tunable devices have been demonstrated at millimeter wave frequencies. Furthermore, there are no existing packaging technologies that can combine the advantages of low temperature processing, conformal integration and dynamic real-time reconfigurability. Finally, since the proposed approach is generic in nature it will be broadly applicable to a wide range of microwave/mm-wave communications and sensing systems. The project's industry partner brings expertise in microwave packaging and manufacturing and will play a critical role in steering the investigations to maximize future commercial impact.