Technical Approach
The M3TERA project envisions the wide-spread use of lowcost THz technology in our society, enabled by the proposed micromachined heterogeneous integration platform, which provides an unprecedented way to highly-integrated, volume-manufacturable, reliable, reconfigurable, cost- and energy-efficient submillimeter-wave and THz systems. The work performed in the framework of this project is organized in nine different work packages tailor-made to achieve the maximum of efficiency and output quality:
WP1: Application and Technology Specification
WP1 intends to analyze system requirements for the applications, on the one hand from a technology and on the other hand from an economical perspective, and further to derive the technology specifications for the technical implementation in the project.
WP2: Heterogeneous Integration Platform
The second work package deals with the development of the micromachined heterogeneous integration platform with integrated MEMS - tunable components as well as designing a systems integration packaging concept.
WP3: Active Circuits and their Intra-Platform Interfaces
WP3 aims to develop monolithic microwave active circuits (MMIC) front-end circuits for the telecom and the sensor prototype, and novel interface concepts to the micro-machined integration platform.
WP4: Sensor and Antenna Interfaces
WP4 includes a further development step by composing a platform sensor and antenna interface for primary (telecommunication) and secondary applications (medical, food science, and industrial sensor) prototypes.
WP5: Telecom Proof-of-Concept Prototype
WP5 targets to develop a proof-of-concept prototype for millimeter-wave wireless link based on the microsystem platform. The goal is to test a 145 GHz frequency and investigate how compact the system can be made using the heterogeneously integrated micro-machined platform and what kind of flexibility the platform may offer using MEMS-based tuneable devices
WP6: Ubiquitous THz Sensor Prototype
WP6 was defined to form a basis for the investigation of secondary applications of the THz microsystem platform spreading over a wide range of sensors: medical microwave sensors, industrial sensors, radar- and food quality sensors.
WP7: Technology Transfer to High-Volume Manufacturer
WP7 involves further key steps in the M3TERA project starting with the technology transfer, accompanied by the design for manufacturability, process documentation and the preparation of the microsystem platform to the high-volume manufacturer in the consortium.
WP8: Dissemination, Communication, Exploitation and Standardisation
The penultimate work package focuses on the dissemination, communication, exploitations and standardization that obtain inputs from all other preceding work packages. WP8 ensures the communication and dissemination of results to be achieved in a single work package to the outside parties as well as to participating entities.
WP9: Project-, Risk-, and Innovation- Management
In the final work package the Project- Risk-, and Innovation- Management will draw from the input of all other WPs in order to guarantee a successful project lifetime with respect to risk and innovation management.