PRESS RELEASE:  MEMX Receives $100,000 SBIR Phase I Award from the NSF for Research Program in Tunable RF MEMS

 May, 2003

ALBUQUERQUE, NM -- The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded MEMX, Inc. a $100,000 SBIR Phase I research grant to develop a highly integrated MEMS technology that will combine SUMMiT V, the world’s most advanced surface micromachining technology, with innovative thick metal films to produce RF devices of unmatched performance, cost and reliability.  The selective thick film metallization of SUMMiT V structures will be employed by MEMX to design RF MEMS devices with both very low series resistance and high quality factors.  This integrated technology – named GOLDFINGER by MEMX --  will be demonstrated in the design and manufacture of a high performance tunable capacitor with low actuation voltage.

Tunable capacitors with such performance do not exist today, and the successful realization of this device will enable reductions in size, cost, and power consumption in the next generation of mobile phone handsets.  The total RF MEMS market is predicted to reach >$1.0 billion by 2007, with RF MEMS being utilized in a wide range of applications.  Satellite communication, auto electronics, RFID tags, adjustable antennas, LANs, base stations, radar systems, and other wireless products are just some of the market segments that would benefit from high performance RF MEMS devices. 

Current RF MEMS development efforts are bumping up against significant technology limitations.  Existing metal-based RF MEMS technologies have shown the ability to build devices with suitable Q, but the relative simplicity and immaturity of these technologies preclude the mechanical sophistication necessary to achieve a large tuning range and low operating voltage.  Standard polysilicon MEMS technologies have superior mechanical complexity, but limitations on metal film thickness required to minimize stress result in high series resistance and low Q.  The goal of this innovative research program is to develop methods of depositing thick metallic films on selective SUMMiT V polysilicon structures, permitting a fundamentally orthogonal approach to RF MEMS development.  It is the sophistication of SUMMiT V that is truly enabling:  stresses from thick metal films which would deform and buckle simpler polysilicon structures can be effectively managed through the multi-level reinforced mechanical structures possible within the 5 layer SUMMiT V technology. 

MEMX is a broad-based MEMS company pursuing a variety of high value commercial and government products.  MEMX was founded in October 2000 and possesses the world's most advanced MEMS capability. The MEMX technical team spent ten years at Sandia National Laboratories developing and perfecting the revolutionary SUMMiT V MEMS technology.  Our business focuses on design, fabrication, packaging, test and qualification of MEMS-based products, and we typically partner with others to integrate the chips into high value systems and products.  To find out more about this technology and the company behind it, please visit our website at www.memx.com or e-mail us at: info@memx.com.