Draper Laboratory: Big Data in Small VSS Technology
ABOUT THE CHARLES STARK DRAPER LABORATORY
LIVIA M. RACZ, Ph.D. is a program manager in Special Technical Systems at Draper Laboratory. She previously worked as the division leader for Microsystems Technologies and an assistant professor of Mechanical Engineering at Tufts University. Racz studies and develops new paradigms for electronics packaging that enables the world’s smallest multi-material electronic systems.
Draper Laboratory, which celebrates 80 years of service to the nation in 2013, is a not-for-profit, engineering research and development organization dedicated to solving critical national problems in national security, space systems, biomedical systems, and energy. Core capabilities include guidance, navigation and control; miniature low power systems; highly reliable complex systems; information and decision systems; autonomous systems; biomedical and chemical systems; and secure networks and communications.
Racz and a team of engineers at Draper have developed an integrated ultra-high density (iUHD) packaging process. This process uses commercial semiconductor process equipment to create 3D stacked systems that are customizable and compatible with multimedia materials and substrates. At Draper, Vanishingly Small Systems (VSS) utilizes both Multi-Chip Modules (MCM) and iUHD technologies. VSS technologies are usually no bigger than a Scrabble© tile, these devices are small and compact but can collect, analyze and store various kinds of sensor data and communicate back to another device or computer. The devices also run on their own integrated power source and must often work in extreme environments. An iUHD package may be a single layer of the VSS device or may consist of multiple layers itself; layers of metal, silicon, Through-Substrate Vias (TSV), and “bump” layers (essentially cover layers) are customizable for any purpose. Other layers of the VSS device may include antennas, batteries and a power source.
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VSS technology can be used anyplace where small size, lightweight, and low power are key, including implantable medical devices, handheld reconnaissance and navigation systems; and microsatellites.