Objective
Powders prepared by melting and sol-gel techniques were processed by cold pressing and sintering to bulk specimens with a well-suited property profile in density and dielectric parameters. Three sets of powder compositions and sintering conditions were selected for substrate preparation. Thin discs (250 and 500 um thickness) were cut from sintered blocks, polished and their metallization behaviour was studied for copper-based microwave lines. Resulting transmission characteristics were measured for coplanar line geometries. Drilling of electrical contact holes was established using a Nd YAG laser.
Several approaches have been established for the sol-gel preparation of cordierite. One procedure was specially adapted to large-scale production (ie quantities above 50 g). The sol-gel technique was also successfully applied for making ferroelectric materials with a wide compositional spectrum available. The technique gives the possibility of obtaining powders and thin films. The qualification of depositing these films on cordierite substrates was demonstrated as well as the principal potential for depositing on other substrates like alumina and silicon.
The processing and characterisation of classical striplines was accomplished by establishing an appropriate thin film Cu metallisation technique for the cordierite substrates. Important high frequency parameters were found to be well predictable by theoretical calculations. Microwave characterisation of the stripline performance was evaluated using simple line geometries, ring resonators and structures in a thin film multi-layer configuration.
The processing and characterisation of substrates with miniaturized elements resulted in a successful implementation of NiCr resistors. Ferroelectric capacitors were formed with the developed sol-gel materials. Stable performance could only be demonstrated for ultra low roughness substrates (silicon).
For integrated circuits, novel composite structures of ceramic substrates and metallic striplines are required to incorporate sub-millimetre size functional elements, especially for uses above 10 GHz. By a Focused Fundamental Research task, it is proposed to demonstrate that alumina substrates can be replaced by reliable alternative low loss dielectrics with substantially lower permittivities (epsilon 5.5) and that as a consequence microwave integrated circuits (MICs) can be realized with enhanced signal transmission characteristics and reduced conductor geometries.
The development focuses on establishing well-controlled processing methods for the (glass-)ceramic and metallic materials involved. The control of the required materials characteristics will be achieved by identifying and understanding the basic features prevailing in the following major processing aspects:
- Densification and concurrent crystallization of highly homogeneous cordierite-based glass powders.
- Microstructural tayloring of the microwave dielectric substrate material
- Formation of MICs with reliably bonded structures by thin film technologies.
- Laser-assisted drilling and metallization of functional holes in MICs.
- Adhesion and structuring of sinteractive capacitive or sensing materials.
The project aims to trigger a subsequent industrial research task oriented to production-adapted processing, which in the long run will strengthen the European position in this key sector of telecommunication systems.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- engineering and technology materials engineering coating and films
- engineering and technology materials engineering amorphous solids
- natural sciences mathematics pure mathematics geometry
- natural sciences chemical sciences inorganic chemistry metalloids
- natural sciences mathematics applied mathematics mathematical model
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Coordinator
76021 Karlsruhe
Germany
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