12 January 2016

RF and microwave component packaging developer RJR Polymers changes name to RJR Technologies

RJR Polymers of Oakland, CA, USA has changed its name to RJR Technologies Inc in order to reflect its growing role as a developer and high-volume manufacturer of liquid crystal polymer (LCP) air-cavity plastic packaging (ACP) for RF and microwave applications.

"Over the last few years our company has transformed from a developer of packaging components and materials, including epoxy-coated components and sealing systems, for mostly custom projects to an advanced developer of high-performance packaging technologies for high-volume semiconductor suppliers," says president & CEO Wil Salhuana. "Today we sell standard air-cavity plastic (ACP) and RQFN packages that offer a compelling value proposition in terms of high performance, low cost and faster time-to-market," he adds.  

RJR Technologies has already shipped millions of units of its new second-generation ACP2 packages to manufacturers in the RF market. The firm adds that, over the next few years, its industry-standard ACP packages promise to deliver similar benefits to applications in the gallium nitride (GaN) market and RF energy applications, such as lighting, automotive ignition systems and consumer microwave appliances.

In today's highly competitive wireless infrastructure market, base-station manufacturers need devices capable of supporting high linearity, higher average output power and wider operating bandwidths, notes RJR Technologies. By reducing thermal resistance and parasitic effects, the ACP2 packaging supports higher levels of performance than existing ceramic packages while delivering the low cost and shorter development cycle of a plastic package, the firm claims. For example, by replacing ceramic packages with ACP2 using a copper thermal base rather than an expensive composite-type metal, the packaging costs of RF power transistors can be reduced by as much as 50% while improving thermal dissipation by 30%, it adds. 

"The rising performance requirements and increasing price pressures of today's RF market are driving a migration to packaging that uses less expensive copper thermal bases and that calls for an air cavity rather than an over-molded solution," says Salhuana.  "While over-molded solutions can use copper, they pay a penalty in performance. So the migration to a copper thermal base is quickly making ceramic packaging solutions in the RF market obsolete."

RJR Technologies' ACP technology differs from traditional air-cavity ceramic (ACC) packaging by using a lid and ringframe constructed of LCP instead of traditional ceramic materials. This design enables the ringframe to be attached to the flange using RJR's proprietary high-performance epoxy adhesives, whereas the ceramic package has to be brazed, which creates a very rigid structure. Using RJR epoxies reduces the stress and distortions of the flange because the firm designs its epoxies to allow a certain amount of flexibility. The in-strip solution offers numerous benefits, it is claimed: it eliminates the variability of sizes of the singulated package (because RJR uses a standard lead frame outline as a carrier solution to reduce variability in the manufacturing lines); it supports automation of the manufacturing process (using a cassette-to-cassette solution); and it allows customers to use RJR's fully automated sealing system (based on the cassette-to-cassette assembly process), increasing units-per-hour (UPH) and substantially reducing the customer's labor cost.

RJR claims that this approach has a significant impact on package performance and cost. Lower stress on the flange allows equipment manufacturers to use thinner matching capacitors that reduce RF losses at both the gate and the drain, and end up producing higher gain and efficiency than comparable ceramic packages. As a result, designers using the ACP2 packages can deliver better performance than those using traditional ceramic packaging and, at the same time, reduce cost, the firm adds.

Tags: GaN HEMT

Visit: www.rjrtechnologies.com