Micro (and Nano-) Mechanical Signal Processors

With quality factors (Q) often-exceeding 10,000, vibrating micromechanical resonators have emerged as leading candidates for on-chip versions of high-Q resonators used in wireless communications systems. However, as in the case for transistors, extending the frequency of MEMS resonators generally entails scaling of resonator dimensions. Unfortunately, smaller size often coincides with lower-power handling capability and increased motional impedance. In this paper we introduce novel transduction techniques which can improve the motional impedance of MEMS resonators by 1000× over traditional 'air-gap' transduced resonators, present latest results on narrow-bandwidth parametric filters for frequency-agile radio receivers, and discuss performance scaling of NEMS resonators to X-band frequencies.