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WHITE PAPER The New SiP Device Drives a Leap in RF Edge Processing mrcy.com 4 A FLEXIBLE APPROACH TO DESIGNING SMALL MULTI-FUNCTION ELECTRONICS The internet-of-things (IoT) is driving commercial electronics with ever-increasing demands for miniaturization and higher functionality at less cost and lower power. Many- core processors are not the answer; while they can execute billions of instructions per second, they are not designed for optimal power use. They also need support from mixed signal chips and FPGAs for any RF interfaces, making a complete solution into a board-level product. To meet the IoT's most demanding requirements, microelectronics designers are moving to heterogeneous integration (HI) of SiP technology. This innovative semiconductor design approach connects small units, called chiplets, on a tiny piece of silicon. Each chiplet is designed to perform a specific function, such as RF capture and transmission, ADC/DAC conversion, digital I/O, FPGA-based digital signal processing or any one of the dozens of tasks needed to implement a mixed signal data flow. Every chiplet is an individual semiconductor; they can even be complex, multicore processors. Chiplets can be selected, combined and connected in many different ways, each combination optimized for a specific application. The results are extremely high-per formance solutions that put the multi-function, pipelined dataflow concepts of a printed circuit board onto a very small form factor. Let 's examine a SiP created specifically for RF sensor data processing, and its semiconductor chiplets, each selected to function as part of a cutting-edge solution. HI SIP DESIGN FOR RF EDGE PROCESSING Mercury has adapted the HI SiP design approach to meet the rigorous requirements of RF edge processing, and is developing a family of RFSiPs that take technology from the commercial world and make it defense-ready. The description on the next page is focused on a specific RFSiP, the RFS1140. Trusted Sourcing is Essential Now, more than ever, leading edge microelectronics are critical to giving our forces a significant technical advantage. One part of maintaining that advantage is ensuring trust and security in the microelectronics supply chain. The risks in a compromised supply chain are clear. Semiconductor tampering is extremely difficult to detect. It includes things like remotely operated 'kill switches' and hidden 'backdoors.' While many cybersecurity discussions focus on software threats, semiconductor vulnerabilities may present even greater risks. This is a serious, ongoing danger to DoD programs. Mercury is committed to uncompromised delivery of trusted solutions. We continue to invest in scalable manufacturing operations in the U.S. to enable rapid, cost-effective deployment of our microelectronics and secure processing solutions to our customers. This strategy allows us to assist our customers in reducing program cost, minimizing technical risk, staying on schedule and on budget, and ensuring trust and security in the supply chain. With regard to the RFSiP specifically, it will be delivered to DoD programs using trusted onshore design, complemented by DMEA- certified manufacturing and testing facilities. Mercury 's Phoenix, AZ production facility MADE IN USA