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Raytheon RF Components (RRFC) of Andover, MA, USA has won a $8.85m Defense Production Act (DPA) Title III Program award to develop a dedicated, long-term domestic foundry source for atomic layer deposition (ALD) hermetic coating of monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs) at the wafer level.

Such devices are intended for use in radar systems. The US Department of Defense contract is being managed by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL/PKMD) at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.

Currently, most MMICs are coated using plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PE-CVD), but the ALD method allows much more precise control.

The Department of Defense (DoD) presolicitation notice issued in May stated that the 33-month contract involves: procuring ALD equipment for depositing environmental coatings in RRFC’s MMIC production wafer fabrication plant; replicating the existing wafer-level dielectric deposition process and films; optimizing the ALD process and deposition materials for manufacturability; qualifying, validating, and demonstrating the hermetic coating process in the production of microwave and millimeter MMICs.

Also, the production demonstration release should include the establishment, demonstration and documentation of: complete computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) instructions; statistical process control and process control limits; device and component models; as well as device, components, and MMIC reliability and environmental integrity.

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