ADI: The topic of heterogeneous manufacturing as an important perspective for the future development of the industry

Vincent Roche, president and CEO of Analog Devices, presented the topic of heterogeneous manufacturing as an important perspective for the future of the industry in his 2018 Technology Trends article, "These Innovations Will Affect Our Life in 2018."

He believes that with the soaring development costs of deep submicron technology and Moore's Law facing increasingly severe technical and cost challenges, heterogeneous integration of multiple technologies in a single package, a single layer laminate or even a single silicon substrate will increase. New business models that promote the capitalization of heterogeneous manufacturing will emerge, enabling small-scale semiconductor manufacturers that are unable to invest in the most advanced IC lithography technology to achieve restructuring and innovation. For suppliers with a broader and larger scale, integrating signal processing algorithms onto the chip will help increase the value of their solution.

Heterogeneous integration, starting from the application of two patented technologies

ADI Big Boss is very optimistic about heterogeneous integration, and has to mention the company's unique patented heterogeneous manufacturing technology - iCoupler magnetic isolation technology. The introduction on Wikipedia is that the core of the technology is a planar transformer that transmits and receives signals through isolated barriers. These transformers are completely integrated by standard semiconductor manufacturing processes. The transformer consists of two coils separated by a polyimide layer. The polyimide layer functions as an isolation barrier.

This digital isolation technology solves the limitations of optocouplers—lower speeds, higher power consumption, and the difficulty of integrating other features, and performance degrades over time. ADI also applies this chip-level transformer technology to its isoPower® isolated power supply, which provides an integrated DCDC conversion and data isolation integration in a single package, freeing engineers from the cost, size, power, performance and reliability of optocouplers. Limitation, it is easier to implement isolation in the design. According to data released by ADI, more than one billion isolation channels using iCoupler technology are currently in use.

4-channel iCoupler isolator block diagram (ADuM140x)

To say that heterogeneous manufacturing, of course, also mentions the development of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) that have become mainstream sensor and actuator technology for decades. Microelectromechanical systems are developed on the basis of microelectronics technology (semiconductor manufacturing technology), combining high-tech electronic machinery made by lithography, etching, thin film, LIGA, silicon micromachining, non-silicon micromachining and precision machining. The device is the most typical heterogeneous manufacturing technology, integrating micro-sensors, micro-actuators, micro-mechanical structures, micro-power micro-energy, signal processing and control circuits, high-performance electronic integrated devices, interfaces, communications, integrated micro-devices or systems. .

ADI also has a deep history in MEMS technology. According to public information, the world's first MEMS accelerometer successfully developed, manufactured and commercialized is the ADXL50 accelerometer released by Analog Devices in 1991; Analog Devices was released in 2002. The first integrated MEMS gyroscope, the ADXRS150. With this in mind, ADI has built a large MEMS product offering with high reliability and high performance, delivering more than 1 billion inertial sensors for automotive, industrial and consumer electronics applications.

Size Comparison of ADI Lead Frame Chip Scale Package MEMS Switch (Quad Switch) and Typical Electromechanical RF Relay (Quad Switch)

Heterogeneous manufacturing has allowed ADI to once again attack the technological revolution. From the introduction of the RF MEMS switch in late 2016, the ADGM1304 and ADGM1004 MEMS switch products will be commercially available for the first time in commercial MEMS switching technology, providing 0 Hz ( DC) to 14 GHz RF performance, the use of electrostatically activated switches in sealed silicon capacitors, and low-voltage low-current driver ICs greatly improve operating performance, and reduce the size of the switch by 95%, speed up by 30 times, reliability improvement 10 times, the power consumption is only one tenth of the original.

Schematic diagram of RF MEMS switch ADGM1304

Revolutionary breakthrough in switching technology, heterogeneous integration and new achievements

Traditional electromechanical relays have been adopted by the electronics industry more than 100 years ago and are still widely used today, but the various performance limitations caused by traditional relays existed long before the advent of the telegraph. For the past 30 years, MEMS switches have been advertised as an excellent replacement for electromechanical relays with limited performance because they are easy to use, small in size, and capable of reliably transmitting 0 Hz/dc to hundreds of GHz signals with minimal loss. It is expected that this technology will completely change the way electronic systems are implemented.

The current traditional switching technology has more or less disadvantages. No product provides an ideal solution. The disadvantages include narrow bandwidth, limited operating life, limited channel number and large package size. Compared to relays, MEMS technology has the potential to achieve the highest levels of switching performance, with reliability orders of magnitude and size. However, it is difficult to provide reliable products in large quantities through mass production, and many companies trying to develop MEMS switching technology have stagnated.

ADI invested heavily in the development of a gold cantilever beam structure (the picture shows four MEMS cantilevered switch beams)

Among the industry-disclosed materials, Foxboro Company was one of the first companies to start MEMS switch research. In 1984, it applied for one of the world's first electromechanical switch patents. According to ADI experts, ADI began to research MEMS switch technology through some academic projects in 1990. Eight years later, it finally developed a MEMS switch design and made some early prototype products based on the design. In 2011, ADI began to significantly increase the investment in MEMS switch projects, which promoted the construction of its own advanced MEMS switch manufacturing facilities, and in the next five years, the industry took the lead in launching a truly commercial MEMS switch product, which is called the revolution of the traditional relay switch. Sexual change.

In the information published by ADI, we can see the ingenuity of research and development of heterogeneous manufacturing technology. In order to improve the dexterity of the switch, ADI uses a cantilever beam structure made of gold, and in order to avoid the gold-to-gold contact design is not conducive to improving the operating life, the contact material is changed to hard alloy metal, so its service life - that is, the switch The number of times - has been greatly improved. Each cantilever beam contact is electrostatically actuated, applying a high voltage DC voltage below the cantilever beam to control the conduction of the switch. When turned on, the electrostatic attraction pulls the cantilever down, all five contacts are lowered, and the on-resistance of each contact is 5 ohms. After combination, the overall on-resistance is much smaller, so that the power can be transmitted. Up to 36dBm. The actual moving distance of the contacts when they are turned on is only 0.3 microns. The small moving distance and the patented sealing case technology of ADI all contribute to the reliability. Reliability is the key to mechanical design.

As a new success model for heterogeneous integration, switch performance and size reduction have been achieved. The RF MEMS switches ADGM1304 and ADGM1004 achieve best-in-class 0 Hz/dc to Ka-band and above performance, are orders of magnitude higher cycle life than relays, and offer excellent linearity and ultra-low power requirements, solving traditional MEMS technology Limiting the technical difficulties of this commercial application helps engineers develop faster, smaller, more energy-efficient and reliable products.

Electronic Components Transformer

Transformer is a device that USES the principle of electromagnetic induction to change the ac voltage. Its main components are primary coil, secondary coil and iron core.The main functions are: voltage transformation, current transformation, impedance transformation, isolation, voltage stabilization (magnetic saturation transformer), etc.According to use can be divided into: power transformer and special transformer (electric furnace change, rectifier, power frequency transformer, voltage regulator, mining, audio transformers, intermediate frequency transformer, high frequency transformer, impact transformer, instrument transformer, electronic transformer, reactor, transformer, etc.).The circuit symbol T is often used as the beginning of the number. Examples: T01, T201, etc.

Electronic Components Transformer, Electrical Transformer, AC Transformer, 12V Transformer

YANGZHOU POSITIONING TECH CO., LTD. , https://www.cnpositioning.com