MEMS Technologies and Devices for Single-Chip RF Front-Ends

Micromechanical (or “μmechanical”) components for communication applications fabricated via IC-compatible MEMS technologies and capable of low-loss filtering, mixing, switching, and frequency generation, are described with the intent to not only miniaturize and lower the parts counts of wireless front-ends via higher levels of integration, but also to eventually raise robustness (against interferers) and lower power consumption when used in alternative architectures that take advantage of the abundant frequency control enabled by RF MEMS devices. Among the devices described are vibrating micromechanical resonators with Q’s exceeding 10,000 at GHz frequencies; mechanical circuits comprised of such vibrating resonators; tunable MEMS-based capacitors and inductors with much higher Q than achievable by conventional IC counterparts; and RF MEMS switches with insertion losses and linearity superior to those attainable by present-day semiconductor switches.