Micromechanical Circuits for Communications

Micromechanical communication circuits fabricated via IC-compatible MEMS technologies and capable of low-loss filtering, mixing, switching, and frequency generation, are described with the intent to miniaturize wireless transceivers. A possible transceiver front-end architecture is then presented that uses these micromechanical circuits in large quantities to substantially reduce power consumption. Technologies that integrate MEMS and transistor circuits into single-chip systems are then reviewed with an eye towards the possibility of single-chip communication transceivers.