• ETRI Journal
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.802-805
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• 2011

This letter presents a K-band polarization reconfigurable antenna integrated with a silicon radio frequency MEMS switch into the form of a compact package. The proposed antenna can change its state from linear polarization (LP) to circular polarization (CP) by actuating the MEMS switch, which controls the configuration of the coupling ring slot. Low-loss quartz is used for a radiating patch substrate and at the same time for a packaging lid by stacking it onto the MEMS substrate, which can increase the system integrity. The fabricated antenna shows broadband impedance matching and exhibits high axial ratios better than 15 dB in the LP and small axial ratios in the CP, with a minimum value of 0.002 dB at 20.8 GHz in the K-band.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.11-15
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• 2001

In this paper, hermetic sealing technology was studied for wafer level packaging of the RF-MEMS devices. With the flip-chip bonding method. this non-conductive B-stage epoxy sealing will be profit to the MEMS device sealing. It will be particularly profit to the RF-MEMS device sealing. B-stage epoxy can be cured by 2-step and hermetic sealing can be obtained. After defining 500 $\mu\textrm{m}$-width seal-lines on the glass cap substrate by screen printing, it was pre-baked at $90^{\circ}C$ for about 30 minutes. It was, then, aligned and bonded with device substrate followed by post-baked at $175^{\circ}C$ for about 30 minutes. By using this 2-step baking characteristic, the width and the height of the seal-line could be maintained during the sealing process. The height of the seal-line was controlled within $\pm$0.6 $\mu\textrm{m}$ in the 4 inches wafer and the bonding strength was measured to about 20MPa by pull test. The leak rate, that is sealing characteristic of the B-stage epoxy, was about $10^{-7}$ cc/sec from the leak test.

• Journal of electromagnetic engineering and science
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.135-145
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• 2006

This paper presents the theory, design, fabrication and characterization of the novel low actuation voltage capacitive shunt RF-MEMS switch using a corrugated membrane with HRS MEMS packaging. Analytical analyses and experimental results have been carried out to derive algebraic expressions for the mechanical actuation mechanics of corrugated membrane for a low residual stress. It is shown that the residual stress of both types of corrugated and flat membranes can be modeled with the help of a mechanics theory. The residual stress in corrugated membranes is calculated using a geometrical model and is confirmed by finite element method(FEM) analysis and experimental results. The corrugated electrostatic actuated bridge is suspended over a concave structure of CPW, with sputtered nickel(Ni) as the structural material for the bridge and gold for CPW line, fabricated on high-resistivity silicon(HRS) substrate. The corrugated switch on concave structure requires lower actuation voltage than the flat switch on planar structure in various thickness bridges. The residual stress is very low by corrugating both ends of the bridge on concave structure. The residual stress of the bridge material and structure is critical to lower the actuation voltage. The Self-alignment HRS MEMS package of the RF-MEMS switch with a $15{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$ lightly-doped Si chip carrier also shows no parasitic leakage resonances and is verified as an effective packaging solution for the low cost and high performance coplanar MMICs.

• Proceedings of the International Microelectronics And Packaging Society Conference
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• 2001.11a
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• pp.129-133
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• 2001

In this paper, hermetic sealing was studied fur wafer level packaging of the MEMS devices. With the flip-chip bonding method, this B-stage epoxy sealing will be profit to MEMS device sealing and further more RF-MEMS device sealing. B-stage epoxy can be cured 2-step and hermetic sealing can be obtained. After defining $500{\mu}{\textrm}{m}$-width seal-lines on the glass cap substrate by screen printing, it was pre-baked at $90^{\circ}C$ for about 30 minutes. It was then aligned and bonded with device substrate followed by post-baked at $175^{\circ}C$ for about 30 minutes. By using this 2-step baking characteristic, the width and the height of the seal-line were maintained during the sealing process. The height of the seal-line was controlled within $\pm0.6${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ and the strength was measured to about 20MPa by pull test. The leak rate of the epoxy was about $10^7$ cc/sec from the leak test.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2005.11a
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• pp.30-32
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• 2005

This paper reports on an LTCC-based packaging method using Au/Sn eutectic bonding process for RF MEMS applications. The proposed packaging structure was realized by a micromachining technology. An LTCC substrate consists of metal filled vertical via feedthroughs for electrical interconnection and Au/Sn sealing rim for eutectic bonding. The LTCC capping substrate and the glass bottom substrate were aligned and bonded together by a flip-chip bonding technology. From now on, shear strength and He leak rate will be measured then the fabricated package will be compared with the LTCC package using BCB adhesive bonding method which has been researched in our previous work.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2008.07a
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• pp.1464-1465
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• 2008

In this paper, we compared the mechanical characteristics between LTCC-based RF MEMS packaging structures fabricated using two different types of bonding materials; BCB and gold-tin. The BCB-based packages showed an average shear strength of 32.1 MPa and helium leak rate of $1.76{\times}10^{-8}atm{\cdot}cc/sec$ for a cavity volume of $0.45\times10^{-3}cc$, while the packages bonded by gold-tin layer (80 wt.% gold, 20 wt.% tin) showed an average shear strength of 42.70 MPa and helium leak rate $1.38{\times}10^{-8}atm{\cdot}cc/sec$ for a cavity volume of $1.21{\times}10^{-3}cc$.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.91-95
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• 2014

This paper presents the structure and process technology of simple and low-cost wafer-level packaging (WLP) for thin film radio frequency (RF) devices. Low-cost practical micromachining processes were proposed as an alternative to high-cost processes, such as silicon deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) or electro-plating, in order to reduce the fabrication cost. Gold (Au)/Tin (Sn) alloy was utilized as the solder material for bonding and hermetic sealing. The small size fabricated WLP of $1.04{\times}1.04{\times}0.4mm^3$ had an average shear strength of 10.425 $kg/mm^2$, and the leakage rate of all chips was lower than $1.2{\times}10^{-5}$ atm.cc/sec. These results met Military Standards 883F (MIL-STD-883F). As the newly proposed WLP structure is simple, and its process technology is inexpensive, the fabricated WLP is a good candidate for thin film type RF devices.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2005.07c
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• pp.2395-2397
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• 2005

A low voltage operated piezoelectric RF MEMS in-line switch has been realized by using silicon bulk micromachining technologies for advanced mobile/wireless applications. The developed RF MEMS in-line switches were comprised of four piezoelectric cantilever actuators with an Au contact metal electrode and a suspended Au signal transmission line above the silicon substrate. The measured operation dc bias voltages were ranged from 2.5 to 4 volts by varying the thickness and the length of the piezoelectric cantilever actuators, which are well agreed with the simulation results. The measured isolation and insertion loss of the switch with series configuration were -43dB and -0.21dB (including parasitic effects of the silicon substrate) at a frequency of 2GHz and an actuation voltage of 3 volts.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2001.07a
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• pp.874-877
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• 2001

SOI(Silicon-On-Insulator) technology is proposed as an alternative to bulk silicon for MEMS(Micro Electro Mechanical System) manufacturing. In this paper, we fabricated the SOI wafer with uniform active layer thickness by silicon direct bonding and mechanical polishing processes. Specially-designed electrostatic bonding system is introduced which is available for vacuum packaging and silicon-glass wafer bonding for SOG(Silicon On Glass) wafer. We demonstrated thermopile sensor and RF resonator using the SOI wafer, which has the merits of simple process and uniform membrane fabrication.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.56 no.12
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• pp.2217-2220
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• 2007

In this paper, we propose a new wafer level package (WLP) for the RF MEMS applications. The Film Bulk Acoustic Resonator (FBAR) are fabricated and hermetically packaged in a new wafer level packaging process. With the use of Au-Sn eutectic bonding method, we bonded glass cap and FBAR device wafer which has groove-shaped via formed in the backside. The device wafer includes a electrical bonding pad and groove-shaped via for connecting to the external bonding pad on the device wafer backside and a peripheral pad placed around the perimeter of the device for bonding the glass wafer and device wafer. The glass cap prevents the device from being exposed and ensures excellent mechanical and environmental protection. The frequency characteristics show that the change of bandwidth and frequency shift before and after bonding is less than 0.5 MHz. Two packaged devices, Tx and Rx filters, are attached to a printed circuit board, wire bonded, and encapsulated in plastic to form the duplexer. We have designed and built a low-cost, high performance, duplexer based on the FBARs and presented the results of performance and reliability test.