Framework

Joint Applied Research Projects PN-II-PT-PCCA-2011-3 (see here)


Project description

The topic is related to the 2012 work programme for ICT of the European Commission which emphasizes the need for more integration on functionalities on chips, requiring new software development technologies and parallelisation tools. The main goal is the development of knowledge in the RF-MEMS domain by fundamental and applicative research finalized with a new modelling methodology validated by experiments, aiming to efficiently couple electromagnetic, mechanical and fluid flow phenomena for the design of RF-MEMS switches. Models of manageable size for a set of benchmarks will be manufactured and characterized. The models will account for the dependence on relevant design or operating parameters and their behaviour will be experimentally validated.

Depending on the complexity of the structures and on the target applications certain steps in the fabrication process can suffer modifications (e.g. deposition of a Benzocyclobutene (BCB) layer on the Silicon substrate, BCB representing an important determinant of package reliability, which could represent a novelty for the technological process. The target is to obtain a functional switch that can be further integrated. The structure of the switch beam must be chosen so as to produce the lowest possible insertion loss (less than -1 dB), the highest possible isolation (more than 20 dB at 20GHz), lowest possible actuation voltage (25 - 30 V) that operates up to 60 GHz. The project aims to demonstrate potential benefits of using supercomputing in the design of RF-MEMS devices, improve design capabilities for RF-MEMS MMIC technology in Romania and achieve an efficient transfer of knowledge in both directions between a research institute which is more industry oriented (IMT) and a university team specialized in high frequency modelling and high performance computing (UPB).


Duration and budget

The project duration is from July 2012 to December 2016. Its total budget is 1,710,000 lei.