Design and consideration of wafer level micropackaging for distributed RF MEMS phase shifters

Abstract

A novel packaging structure which is performed using wafer level micropackaging on the thin silicon substrate as the distributed RF MEMS phase shifters wafer with vertical feedthrough is presented. The influences of proposed structure on RF performances of distributed RF MEMS phase shifters are investigated using microwave studio (CST). Simulation results show that the insertion loss (S 21 ) and return loss (S 11 ) of packaged MEMS phase shifters are -0.4-1.84 dB and under -10 dB at 1-50 GHz, respectively. Especially, the phase shifts have well linear relation at the range 1-48 GHz. At the same time, this indicated that the proposed pacakaging structure for the RF MEMS phase shifter can provide the maximum amount of linear phase shift with the minimum amount of insertion loss and return loss of less than -10 dB.

Comparison of Packaging Technologies for Rf Mems Switch

“…RF MEMS components in general offer small size, lower power consumption, lower losses, higher linearity, and higher Q factors over conventional communication components [1]. In the last two decades, research work has been concentrated on MEMS switch design and fabrication [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] leading to successful demonstration of RF MEMS switches of various types [3][4][5][6][7]. In general, a reliable low cost packaging without degradation in performance is considered to be the last barrier in commercialization of MEMS devices.…”

“…Packaging contributes to about 75% of the total cost of a device [1] and the performance and reliability of a device strongly depend on its packaging. The diverse nature of MEMS devices also makes it mandatory to customize the packaging to the specific requirements of devices and applications, with emphasis on the cost, performance, and reliability [8][9][10][11][12].…”