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Low-Actuation Voltage RF MEMS Shunt Switch With Cold Switching Lifetime of Seven Billion Cycles
Richard Chan, Student Member, IEEE, Robert Lesnick, David Becher, and Milton Feng, Fellow, IEEE
AbstractThis paper investigates the performance and lifetime of a metal-to-metal shunt RF MEMS switch fabricated on an SIGaAs substrate. The switch is a shunt bridge design that is compatible with standard microelectronic processing techniques. The RF performance of the switch includes actuation voltages of less than 15 V, isolation better than 20 dB from 0.25 to 40 GHz, and switching speeds of less than 22 s. Varying the geometry of the switch affects both switching voltage and reliability, and the tradeoffs are discussed. We have developed a cold switching test method to identify the root cause of sticking as a failure mechanism. The switch structure includes separation posts that eliminate sticking failure and has demonstrated lifetimes as high as 7 109 cold switching cycles. These results show that good reliability is possible with a metal-to-metal RF MEMS switch operated with a low actuation voltage. [768] Index TermsMicrowave switches, reliability, RF MEMS, stiction, switch.

I. INTRODUCTION F MEMS switches are of interest because of their potential for low-loss, wide bandwidth operation, as they have demonstrated superior RF characteristics compared to FET and diode based switches. There are many varieties of RF MEMS switches. The switch can be in series [1] or in shunt [2] with the signal path, and coupling can be either capacitive [3] or metal-to-metal [4]. They are a promising circuit element for reconfigurable circuit applications [5], and their ability to directly integrate with high-speed electronics makes them a low-cost solution. There have been several demonstrations of MEMS switches used in phase shifter circuits [6], [7], and applications in reconfigurable antennas have been presented [8]. However, most of the RF MEMS switches reported today need high actuation voltages, usually ranging from 30 to 80 volts, making these switches impractical for mobile wireless communication as well as reconfigurable circuit applications. The low actuation voltage operation will facilitate the direct integration of MEMS switches with current MMICs
Manuscript received October 15, 2001; revised January 15, 2003. The authors would like to thank Dr. L. Corey (DARPA/SPO), K. Stamper, and Dr. A. Tewksbury (AFRL/SNDI) for their support under DARPA RECAP Contract F3361599-C-1519, and Dr. J. Mink for his support under NSF ECS 9979292. Subject Editor G. K. Fedder. R. Chan, R. Lesnick, and D. Becher are with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801 USA. M. Feng is with the Microelectronics Laboratory, Urbana, IL 61801 USA (e-mail: mfeng@hsic.micro.uiuc.edu). Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/JMEMS.2003.817889

without adding clumsy voltage up-converter circuitry. The switch that has been developed at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) [9][13] is a shunt design with metal-to-metal contact, and the beam is supported at the four corners by serpentine springs. The shunt configuration provides very low insertion loss in the up state and the metal-to-metal contact has the benefit of an inherently wide-band response. The serpentine supports are a key part of reducing the actuation voltage [12][14]. Only three companies and UIUC have reported on the life testing of RF MEMS technology. Rockwell, HRL, and Raytheon have reported lifetimes, measured in switching cycles at 85 V, cycles, and actuation voltages of 1.2 cycles at 30 V, and cycles at 35 V, respectively. The UIUC switch design has demonstrated lifetimes as high as 7 cycles with actuation voltages less than 25 V. Switch life ranging from 1 million to 1 billion cycles is indicative of the trend toward reliability improvement and the maturity of manufacturable technology. Goldsmith et al. (Raytheon) reported on the lifetime characterization of capacitive RF MEMS switches [15]. He has demonstrated an exponential relationship between lifetime and actuation voltage with lifetimes between (65 V) and (30 V) switching actuations. According to the results, lifetime improves on the order of a decade for every 5 to 7 V decrease in applied voltage. To achieve UIUCs ( ) cycles, an actuation voltage of objective of less than 12 V is a requirement for RF MEMS switches. Fig. 1 compares UIUCs switch lifetime versus switching voltage to those reported by Rockwell, HRL, and Raytheon and illustrates UIUCs lifetime objective with a star [1], [5], [15]. Despite their state-of-the-art performance in insertion loss and isolation over a wide bandwidth, MEMS switches have two major problems, namely, sticking and poor power handling. The elimination of sticking and improved power handling are essential to making RF MEMS switches attractive for low cost, cycle) applications for future dehighly reliable ( fense and commercial systems. This work has developed a cold switching test method to clearly identify the root cause of the sticking problem and has demonstrated a low-voltage switch cold switching cycles. that can achieve 7 II. FABRICATION AND DESIGN The UIUC RF MEMS switch is based on the well-established GaAs Ion Implanted MESFET MMIC process. This process gate MESFETs with has demonstrated state-of-the-art 0.1

1057-7157/03$17.00 2003 IEEE

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Fig. 1.

Lifetime versus switching voltage from published reports [1], [5], [15].

and . The process flow for the Balanced-Cantilever RF MEMS switch is shown in Fig. 2. It requires six mask layers, all of which are compatible with established GaAs MMIC processes except for the dimple process step. Since our GaAs MESFET MMIC process is relatively mature, it was easily modified and optimized to produce a high yield RF MEMS process and a reliable RF MEMS switch. The metal-to-metal contact shunt RF MEMS switch examined here features a metal bridge made entirely of gold that spans a coplanar waveguide transmission line. Fig. 3 shows an SEM image of a fabricated device. In the up state, the switch above the signal line. In the down state, is suspended 3 the switch is pulled into direct metal-to-metal contact with the signal line, creating a short circuit from signal to ground. The electrostatic force that pulls the switch down is provided by a dc voltage applied to the actuation pads beneath the bridge, and the restoring force that pulls the switch back into its up position is provided by the mechanical strength of the cantilevers. III. LOW-VOLTAGE OPERATION PRINCIPLE A low actuation voltage is a desirable switch attribute because it will make it more convenient for a switch to be inserted into real applications. The pull-in voltage of a mechanical structure depends on the spring constant of the switch , the gap between the switch and actuation pad , and the actuation area as given by (1). This expression is an approximation based on the assumption that the electrostatic forces on the switch are the same as those in a parallel plate capacitor [16]. Setting the electrostatic force equal to the restoring force of a mechanical spring given by Hookes Law leads to the desired result. (1) Equation (1) leads to some obvious ideas for reducing the pull-in voltage. The actuation voltage can be lowered by reducing the spring constant, reducing the gap, or increasing the

Fig. 2.

RF MEMS switch process flow.

actuation area. Fig. 4 shows the calculated pull-in voltages as a function of gap and spring constant for a device with an actua. This plot shows the range of gaps and tion area of 18 000 spring constants that must be achieved for low-voltage operation. To get actuation voltages that are less than 20 Volts, either or the effective spring conthe gap must be kept to about 2 stant of the device must be less than about 2 N/m. IV. METAL STRESS BOWING AND BRIDGE DIMPLE One of the difficulties in obtaining the gaps and spring constants necessary for low-voltage actuation comes from residual

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Fig. 3. SEM image of a fabricated switch with pad dimensions of 150  200  .

m2

Fig. 5.

Bowed switch showing a compressively strained film.

Fig. 6. Gap between switch and actuation pad for different cantilever lengths. Fig. 4. Calculated pull-in voltage as a function of spring constant and gap.

stress in the switch electrode [17]. The gold switch tends to exhibit compressive strain and bows above the surface of the wafer as seen in the SEM image in Fig. 5. This is problematic because it causes the gap to be dependent on the spring constant. A switch with a low spring constant will have a larger gap because the residual stress causes the bridge to bow more. The dependence of the gap on the spring constant is experimentally quantified in Fig. 6 for a typical device size. The gap between switch and signal line was measured for devices fabricated with identical layouts except for cantilever length. An increase in cantilever length corresponds to a lower spring conwide the gap increases stant, and for a cantilever that is 8 as the length increases from 90 to 450 . from 2.1 to 6.3 This shows clearly the tradeoff that exists between the gap and the spring constant, which must be considered when designing devices with this process. A bridge structure that includes a dimple was engineered to reduce the gap between the switch electrode and signal line, thereby improving electrical contact. Good contact between the switch electrode and the signal line is critical for isolation between the input and output of the MEMS switch. If the switch

does not make contact, the structure will behave like a variable capacitor, which is not a desirable characteristic when used as a broadband switch. Here we demonstrate that the stress in the metal bridge is significant, causing the metal pad to arch over the signal line. Because the pad arches over the signal line, it may not make good contact when the actuation voltage is applied, as shown in Fig. 7(a). Fig. 7(a) depicts the case where the actuation voltage pulls down the pad, but the pad stops when it contacts the bumps on the ground plane. To solve this problem the metal pad itself can be tailored to have a dimple in the center. Fig. 7(b) illustrates this approach. The addition of the dimple improves contact to the signal line and has the added benefit of reducing the gap. Fig. 7(c) shows an SEM image of a device fabricated with a dimpled bridge and raised bumps on the signal line. It is important to note that the contact problem will still require significant effort. The switches have good dc performance, but this only indicates good contact to the signal line. They do not necessarily have good ground plane contact, as it is challenging to contact both at once.UIUCs current research focus is on the optimization of the cantilever and bridge geometries to lower the actuation voltage from 15 V to 10 V while maintaining good signal line and ground plane contact. We expect a

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(a)

(a) (b)

(c) Fig. 7. (a) Illustration of potential contact problem between signal line and switching pad. (b) Dimple solutions to contact problems. (c) SEM image of the dimpled contact region showing the raised contact bumps and the dimpled bridge suspended above. (b) Fig. 8. (a) Insertion loss (S21) and return loss (S11) in the up state. (b) Isolation (S21) and return loss (S11) in the down state.

switch with an actuation voltage of 10 V to achieve the goal of cycles of operation. V. RF CHARACTERIZATION AND DYNAMIC TESTING The RF performance of these switches is measured from zero to 40 GHz using an HP 8510 C vector network analyzer. The switch is probed in the up state and down state to obtain the data shown in Fig. 8(a) and (b) respectively. The insertion loss in the up state is very low less than 0.1 dB across the frequency band because the switch in this condition is a continuous length of transmission line. In the down state, the isolation is greater than 20 dB for all frequencies up to 40 GHz, which indicates that a good electrical short exists between signal and ground. The RF data of Fig. 8 is a useful static characterization of the device, with the switch held steady in either the up or down state. In order to obtain information about the dynamic behavior of the switch a dynamic test setup is utilized. The dynamic test setup consists of a function generator that supplies a dc control signal to the actuation pad and an oscilloscope to measure the output signal. A square wave is used for the actuation signal and an amplifier is used to increase the actuation signal to the required potential. Measurements are done in a vacuum chamber to prevent sticking due to atmospheric humidity.

Fig. 9. Switching data from a 9.4-V switch on the dynamic test system.

Fig. 9 shows data collected from the dynamic measurement setup. This particular switch is being cycled at 10 Hz with a switching voltage of 9.4 V. The input signal is a 500 kHz, 2 V peak-to-peak sine wave. The output signal is the upper trace, which is clearly modulated by the control signal shown in the lower trace. Testing thus far has only used input signals with frequencies up to 500 kHz, but the test station will allow future modifications to include RF input signals.

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(a) Fig. 10. Measured data exhibiting a 21.4 s switching speed.

A close examination of the transition from up state to down state allows measurement of the switching speed and transition time. The switching speed is the time between the application of the actuation signal and the modulation of the output signal, and the transition time is the time required for the output signal to change from on to off [18]. Fig. 10 shows a device with a switching speed of 21.4 and a transition time on the order of with a switching voltage of 15 V. 1 or 2 VI. RELIABILITY: STICKING FAILURE AND SOLUTION One of the major problems with MEMS switches is a general propensity for moving parts to stick together. Parts can stick during the fabrication process, especially during the release of sacrificial layers, and they can also stick during operation. The processing issues can usually be alleviated with minimal difficulty, such as the inclusion of a supercritical carbon dioxide drying technique as applied in the UIUC process, but the problem of parts sticking during testing and actual operating conditions is much more daunting. Sticking issues are well know in RF MEMS Technology and there are many suggested causes such as surface roughness, molecular force, Casimir force and charge force. However, no clear identification of the cause of sticking has been made. In order to separate switch failures due to sticking and power handling, two testing methods termed hot switching and cold switching were developed. Hot-switching tests consist of turning on both the input and control signals and monitoring the output signal on the oscilloscope as seen in Fig. 9. The control signal is run at up to 5 kHz and the input signal is typically a 1 MHz, 2 V peak-to-peak sine wave. Cold switching tests are performed by running the control signal with the input turned off, and then checking periodically to determine if the switch is still working. Based on hot and cold testing data, charge accumulation in the passivation layer causes our switches to stick during operation. The passivation layer, typically silicon nitride, is used to insulate the actuation potential from the switching electrode. These thin insulating layers are forced to support a large electric field and repeated contact with the metal bridge when the actuation potentials are applied, which leads to static charge becoming trapped within the dielectric. This charge cannot escape because
(b) Fig. 11. (a) SEM image of separation posts that eliminate sticking due to charge accumulation. (b) SEM close-up image of a separation post.

it has no conductive path to ground. Therefore, the charge accumulates until eventually there is enough to permanently hold the switch in its actuated position. UIUCs solution to the sticking problem is a novel design that prevents the switch electrode from contacting the passivation layer through the use of strategically positioned separation posts. This novel design currently has several patents pending [19]. The posts typically stand about one micron above the dielectric layer, so when the switch is pulled down it comes to rest on the posts instead of the dielectric. This gap reduces the magnitude of the electric field across the dielectric and therefore reduces any accumulation of charge. This technique has essentially eliminated the problem of sticking and makes it possible for the switch to be cycled 7 billion times with no observed failures due to charge accumulation. When the switch is actuated, the greatest amount of contact and highest fields occur between the metal bridge and bottom actuation pad. Therefore charge accumulation is most likely to occur where the bridge contacts the dielectric layer directly above the bottom actuation pads. By positioning separation posts at each corner and within the actuation pad, contact between the suspended metal pad and dielectric is eliminated. Fig. 11(a) and (b) are SEM images that illustrate the use of separation posts. A comparison of the percent of failures due to charge accumulation for switches with and without separation posts clearly shows that the posts significantly improve the switch lifetime. The percent of failure for over 170 switches with separation posts is only 3.4%. Whereas the percent failure is 71.2% for

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area available for the actuation pad. Examination of (1) shows the pull-in voltage is inversely proportional to the actuation pad area. Therefore, to achieve low voltage operation, the separation post area must be minimized to allow for the largest possible actuation pad area. Out of 276 switches tested, the average actuation voltage is 14.4 V. This data shows that the separation posts can be used and still achieve low-voltage operation. VIII. CONCLUSION A low-voltage metal-to-metal contact shunt RF MEMS switch has been developed and tested. These devices have and good RF characswitching speeds of less than 25 teristics from dc to 40.25 GHz with an actuation voltage of 15 V. Optimizing the switch geometry has resulted in low actuation voltages while the incorporation of a bridge dimple has lead to improved signal line contact. Separation posts were also employed that essentially eliminate sticking due to charge accumulation and resulted in switches with lifetimes hot switching cycles and 7 cold switching of 1.6 cycles. Metal-to-metal contact degradation and deformation due to high current flow are the failure mechanisms that presently limit UIUC switch lifetime rather than sticking, which indicates great promise for achieving longer switch lifetimes. These results indicate the high potential of the UIUC switch as a reliable low-voltage switch. ACKNOWLEDGMENT Thanks also to Dr. S. C. Shen for the original design and early development of the balanced cantilever RF MEMS switch and to Dr. D. Caruth for his valuable technical discussions. REFERENCES
[1] D. Hyman, J. Lam, B. Warneke, A. Schmitz, T. Y. Hsu, J. Brown, J. Schaffner, A. Walston, R. Y. Loo, M. Mehregany, and J. Lee, Surface-micromachined RF MEMS switches on GaAs substrates, Int. J. RF Microwave Computer-Aided Eng., vol. 9, pp. 348361, Apr. 1999. [2] J. B. Muldavin and G. M. Rebeiz, High-isolation CPW MEMS shunt switches-Part 2: Design, IEEE Trans. Microwave Theory Techn, vol. 48, pp. 10531056, June 2000. [3] C. L. Goldsmith, Z. Yao, S. Eshelman, and D. Denniston, Performance of low-loss RF MEMS capacitive switches, IEEE Microw. Guided Wave Lett., vol. 8, pp. 269271, Aug. 1998. [4] D. Hyman and M. Mehregany, Contact physics of gold microcontacts for MEMS switches, IEEE Trans. Components Packaging Technol., vol. 22, pp. 357364, Sept. 1999. [5] R. E. Mihailovich, M. Kim, J. B. Hacker, E. A. Sovero, J. Studer, J. A. Higgins, and J. F. DeNatale, MEM relay for reconfigurable rf circuits, IEEE Microw. Wireless Compon. Lett., vol. 11, pp. 5355, Feb. 2001. [6] B. Pillans, S. Eshelman, A. Malczewski, J. Ehmke, and C. Goldsmith, X-band RF MEMS phase shifters for phased array applications, IEEE Microw. Guided Wave Lett., vol. 9, pp. 517519, Dec. 1999. [7] M. Kim, J. B. Hacker, R. E. Mihailovich, and J. F. DeNatale, A dc-to-40 GHz four-bit RF MEMS true-time delay network, IEEE Microw. Wireless Compon. Lett., vol. 11, pp. 5658, Feb. 2001. [8] J. Bernhard, N. W. Chen, R. Clark, M. Feng, C. Liu, P. Mayes, E. Michielssen, and J. Mondal, Mechanically conformal and electronically reconfigurable apertures using low voltage MEMS and flexible membranes for space based radar applications, in Proc. IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society International Symposium, 2000, p. 99. [9] S. C. Shen and M. Feng, Low actuation voltage RF MEMS switches with signal frequency from 0.25 GHz to 40 GHz, in IEEE Int. Electron Device Meetings 1999, Dec. 1999, pp. 689692. [10] S. C. Shen, D. Caruth, and M. Feng, Broadband low actuation voltage RF MEM switches, in Proc. IEEE 2000 GaAs IC Symposium Digest, Nov. 2000, pp. 161164.

Fig. 12.

Measured data exhibiting contact deterioration.

an equal number of switches without separation posts, which were tested specifically to determine how long they can be actuated without sticking. In addition to these statistics, switches with separation posts have achieved lifetimes as high as 7 cycles, which are at least three orders of magnitude greater than the lifetimes achieved by switches without separation posts. VII. RELIABILITY: CONTACT DEGRADATION, POWER HANDLING, AND GEOMETRY OPTIMIZATION Two dominant switch failure mechanisms, besides charge accumulation, are contact degradation and deformation caused by high current flow. The main failure mechanism observed during hot switch testing is contact degradation resulting in a more resistive path to ground and poor isolation. Fig. 12 shows the data from a switch that is close to failure. When the failure occurs it is not an immediate loss of contact, but a rapid deterioration that occurs over the last few thousand cycles until the input signal is not modulated at all. This increase in contact resistance may be due to a change in surface morphology or a buildup of a thin insulating film on the contact points, but thus far experiments to isolate the failure mechanism have been inconclusive. A comparison of the hot and cold switching lifetimes shows a large difference between the two. Hot switching tests have recycles whereas cold switching sulted in lifetimes of 1.6 cycles. The diftests have produced lifetimes as high as 7 ference between hot and cold switching lifetimes suggests that the failures are not a result of the physical stress of switching, but have to do with the current passing through the contacts. Efforts to reduce the actuation voltage of switches by optimizing the geometry have some benefits in terms of reliability. Switches that can operate with lower actuation voltages further reduce the risk of charge accumulation because the electric fields across the dielectric are lower, leading to reduced sticking problems [15]. Low-actuation voltages also require small gaps between switch and actuation pad, which improves reliability because the switch does not have to move as far, reducing any internal stress caused by the motion of the switch. The most reliable switches in this experiment tended to be the devices with shorter cantilevers. The geometry of the separation posts is also a critical factor in achieving a low actuation voltage. The separation posts are positioned underneath the bridge pad and therefore reduce the

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[11] S. C. Shen, D. Becher, D. Caruth, and M. Feng, Sub-10 volts RF MEM switches, in Proc. 2001 Government Microcircuit Application Conference Digest of Papers, Mar. 2001, pp. 9497. [12] S. C. Shen, D. T. Becher, D. C. Caruth, and M. Feng, Development of broadband low-voltage RF MEM switches, in Proc. 2001 GaAs MANTECH Conference Digest of Papers, May 2001, pp. 8184. [13] S. C. Shen, D. Becher, Z. Fan, D. Caruth, and M. Feng, Development of broadband low-voltage RF MEM switches, Active and Passive Elect. Compon., pp. 97111, 2002. [14] S. P. Pacheco, L. Katehi, and C. Nguyen, Design of low actuation voltage RF MEMS switch, in Proc. IEEE MTT-S 2000 International Microwave Symposium Digest, May 2000, pp. 165168. [15] C. Goldsmith, J. Ehmke, A. Malczewski, B. Pillans, S. Eshelman, Z. Yao, J. Brank, and M. Eberly, Lifetime characterization of capacitive RF MEMS switches, in Proc. IEEE MTT-S 2001 International Microwave Symposium Digest, May 2001, pp. 227230. [16] G. Kovacs, Micromachined Transducers Sourcebook. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill, 1998. [17] E. Obermeier, Mechanical and thermophysical properties of thin film materials for MEMS: Techniques and devices, in Proc. Mat. Res. Soc. Symposium, vol. 444, 1997, pp. 3957. [18] H. J. De Los Santos, Y. H. Kao, A. L. Caigoy, and E. D. Ditmars, Microwave and mechanical considerations in the design of MEM switches for aerospace applications, in Proc. IEEE Aerospace Conference, vol. 3, Feb. 1997, pp. 235254. [19] M. Feng, D. Becher, N. Holonyak Jr., R. Chan, S. Shen, and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Low Voltage High Cycle RF MEMS Device, File no. 1210.666 12, July 11th, 2002.

Robert Lesnick received the B.S. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, graduating with highest distinction in 2001 and the M.S.E.E. degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) in 2002. He is a Naval Reactors Engineer for the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program with the responsibility to design, build, operate, maintain, and manage the nuclear powered war ships and facilities that support the U.S. Navy nuclear-powered naval fleet. As a member of the High Speed Integrated Circuits Group at UIUC, he conducted research on the fabrication and characterization of lowvoltage broadband RF MEMS switches. Mr. Lesnick is a recipient of the William L. Everitt Award for Excellence in Electrical and Computer Engineering, the Louis S. Ehrich, Jr. Scholarship, the society of American Military Engineers Scholarship, the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Award, and the American Society of Naval Engineers Scholarship.

David Becher received the B.S. degree with honors in electrical engineering from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in December 1996. He attended graduate school at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, receiving the M.S.E.E. degree in 1998 and Ph.D. in 2002. His research focused on high-speed compound semiconductor electronics, particularly ion-implanted GaAs MESFETs, AlGaNGaN HEMTs, and RF MEMS switches. He is currently employed at Intel, Portland, OR.

Richard Chan (S02) received the B.S. (with highest honors) and the M.S. degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), in 2001 and 2002, respectively. He is currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering. From 2001 to present, he is a member of the High Speed Integrated Circuit research group at UIUC. His research interests include fabrication and characterization of low voltage broadband RF MEMS switches, large signal modeling of InP submicron heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBT), and broadband Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuit (MMIC) design using SiGe and InP HBTs. Mr. Chan is a recipient of the John Bardeen Fellowship in 2001, Yunni Pao Fellowship in 2002, and Intel Foundation Ph.D. Fellowship in 2003. He is a Member of the Eta Kappa Nu and Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Societies.

Milton Feng (SM82F92) received the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, in 1979. From 1979 to 1983, he was Section Head of the Material and Device Group at Torrance Research Center, Hughes Aircraft Company, Torrance, CA. In 1984, he joined Ford Microelectronics, Inc., Colorado Springs, CO, where he was the director of advanced development and fabrication for both digital and microwave/millimeter-wave development programs and for manufacturing technology. Since 1991, he has been a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and a member of the faculty of the Center for Compound Semiconductor Microelectronics, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). His research interests include ion-implantation technology in IIIV technology, optoelectronic ICs, ultrahigh-speed analog-digital HBT ICs, and microwave/millimeter-wave ICs on material, device, processing, design, and testing. Dr. Feng received the IEEE David Sarnoff Award in 1997. He received the FY2000 Outstanding Research Award from Dr. Pan Wen Yuan Foundation for the outstanding contribution of noise reduction in microelectronics. He was named the first Nick Holonyak, Jr., Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at UIUC in 2000.