Will future RFIC be flexible? (Invited)

Flexible electronics operating at low frequencies ranging from kilohertz to megahertz have existed for a while. The low carrier mobility of the active materials used in these electronics such as organic polymers, amorphous and polycrystalline silicon essentially limit their operation frequency. While flexible electronics have been desirable for RF for both portable gadget devices and military applications, achieving RF operation in the flexible form has been challenging. In this talk, flexible RFIC fabrication technologies will be presented to show the horizon in this emerging area. In the single-crystal Si nanomembrane-based RFIC technology, the creation and engineering of Si nanomembranes for RFIC applications will be described. The direct fabrication of large-area RF circuits on flexible substrates will be presented in detail. Using this method, over 10 GHz flexible RF devices and GHz flexible RF circuits have been demonstrated. Passive RF components that are directly fabricated on plastic substrate will also be described.