A novel 3D T/R module with MEMS technology

In this paper, we have proposed an extremely-small, low-cost and high reliability 3-dimensional micro-system which is composed of radio frequency (RF) components. The microwave monolithic integrated circuits of the T/R module are mounted onto a silicon substrate which is fabricated by MEMS technology. Some passive components, such as filters, attenuators and transmission lines, are embedded in the silicon substrate. The full T/R module consists of a low noise amplifier, two driver amplifiers, a limiter, two attenuators, two switches and a MEMS filter. The maximum of the measured noise figure of the T/R module is 3.5dB. The measured Tx and Rx gain are 35dB and 25dB respectively, and the output power at 1-dB gain compression point is 25dBm. By comparing with the samples obtained by the Surface Mount Technology (SMT) process, the volume is only half of the similar products, while the performance is basically the same, which verifies the feasibility of the technical approach.