FHE Process Maturation for RF Applications

Additively manufactured Flexible hybrid electronic (FHE) radio frequency (RF) devices have demonstrated significant advantages for communications and sensing applications. To date, most of these devices are still in the prototype phase. Thus, they require complex and often immature process integration to demonstrate a working product. Realization of FHE based architectures will require extensive work to improve manufacturing readiness levels (MRLs) from a laboratory demonstrator to the ability to produce components or systems in a production relative environment. This section of the course will introduce attendees to MRLs and how they apply FHE RF devices. A variety of different process tools and process combinations for RF applications will be reviewed in attempt to present the state-of-the-art for pre-pilot line manufacturing. Examples include the fabrication of antennas, interconnects, and electronic packaging. We will conclude the section with a market analysis of FHE technologies for tomorrow’s workforce.