Rf Microwave Hybrids

RF Microwave Hybrids is directed to acquaint technical managers, engineers and technicians, either with experience, or just entering the field, with the capabilities and limitations of the materials and processes used for fabricating high frequency circuits. It is essentially introductory in nature. Where possible, equations have been kept simple and to a minimum. In 1991 this author published a monograph[l] based on his experience teaching microwave hybrid materials and processing technology at the annual ISHM (now the International Microelectronics and Packaging Society, IMAPS) symposia. Since that time, the course has been presented at that venue and on-site at a number of industrial and government organizations. The course has been continually revised to reflect the many evolutionary changes in materials and processes. Microwave technology has existed for almost 175 years. It was only after the invention of the klystron, just before World War II, that microwave design and manufacture moved from a few visionaries to the growth the industry sees today. Over the last decade alone there have been exploding applications for all types of high frequency electronics in the miltary, automotive, wireless, computer, telecommunications and medical industries. These have placed demands, unimaginable a decade ago, on designs, materials, processes and equipment to meet the ever expanding requirements for increasingly reliable, smaller, faster and lower cost circuits.

The text begins with an introduction to hybrid technology and basic high frequency principles. Following these, the major forms of transmission waveguide are discussed, and then current flow and loss considerations. Substrates, thick and thin film deposition, polymers, artwork, masks, photolithography, subtractive, additive and semi-additive methods, electro- and electroless plating and etching are covered. Passive and transmission line components are then treated within the confines of process requirements. With this background established, the text is directed toward the effects of processing and materials on passive and transmission line-based components. Packaging is discussed with emphasis on inductance considerations.