RF MEMS-Based Tunable Filters

James Brank, Jamie Yao, Mike Eberly, Andrew Malczewski, Karl Varian, Charles Goldsmith
Raytheon Systems Company, P . O. Box 660246 MS 35, Dallas, Texas 75266
Accepted 17 May 2001

ABSTRACT: This paper overviews the application of RF MEMS switches in tunable lters as well as circuit developments for bandpass lters covering 110 MHz to 2.8 GHz. RF MEMS have several desirable features, including small size, low power requirements, and low loss. The basic operation of Raytheons RF MEMS capacitive membrane switch is described. An overview of the technique used to integrate the switch into a variable capacitor structure with sixteen capacitance states is provided. Variable capacitor structures are used to construct multipole lumped bandpass lter designs, each with sixteen states. Finally, measured data from two representative ve- and six-pole bandpass lters are presented. Characterization data demonstrates that the insertion loss for the ve-pole lter using on-chip inductors was between 6.6 and 7.3 dB, and between 3.7 and 4.2 dB for the six-pole lter using off-chip inductors. 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE 11: 276284, 2001. Keywords: MEMs; microelectromechanical system; tunable capacitors; varactors; membrane capacitor; tunable lter; tunable bandpass lter

I. INTRODUCTION
Filters are the basic building blocks within frequency converting systems such as receivers and tuners. At microwave frequencies (1 GHz and above), lters are composed of high-Q resonators such as printed transmission line, suspended rods, or dielectric pucks. Depending on the media used to create these resonators, excellent performance can be achieved with Qs in the hundreds for printed lines to tens of thousands for dielectric resonators. The need for frequency tunability within broadband receiving and transmitting systems usually necessitates switching of multiple xed-tuned circuits. The use of tunable lters and resonators can signicantly simplify complexity and reduce losses within complex multiband systems. Unfortunately, there is not yet a tunable
Correspondence to: James Brank Contract grant sponsor: Raytheon. Contract grant number: DARPA F 30602-97-C-D1 8la, 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

resonator component that affords the high performance achieved by xed resonators. YIG lters come the closest to having very good lter selectivity, but at the expense of being bulky, requiring signicant quiescent current, and being expensive. To date, diode varactor-tuned circuits, though simple and requiring little bias current and size, have not met the expectations of most modern receiver requirements in terms of loss. As such, inexpensive and high performance tunable resonators have become one of the holy grails of receiver components. The advent of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) for radio-frequency (RF) applications provides new possibilities for achieving the desired characteristics of a tunable resonator. RF MEMS devices, a new paradigm in the construction of electronic devices, created mechanical structures on the microscale. Being constructed entirely of low-loss metals and dielectrics, these mechanical structures inherently have low loss.

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Development of RF MEMS switches has been under way seriously since about 1995 from several industrial and university groups. These devices have distinguished themselves as having very low loss, requiring practically no power consumption, and having very high linearity. The application of RF MEMS has already proven to provide revolutionary (rather than evolutionary) improvements in electronic switching performance for phase shifters at microwave and millimeter-wave frequencies. This paper explores the use of RF MEMS capacitive switches in the application of tunable lters. Since these devices are operated in a bistable manner, with either a high or low capacitance, they are a natural device for accomplishing digital frequency selection within a lter. The capacitive membrane switch is used to create a multibit variable capacitor which serves as a digital varactor. This varactor is in turn used within resonators and coupling circuits to create tunable, lumped-element LC lters for receiver front-end applications.

Top View
Membrane Undercut Access Holes

Signal Path

Lower Electrode Dielectric

Post

Cross Section
Dielectric Electrode

Buffer Layer High resistivity silicon

Figure 2. Views of the RF MEMS capacitive switch. [Color gure can be viewed in the online issue, which is available at www.interscience.wiley.com.]

II. MEMS VARIABLE CAPACITOR CONSTRUCTION/ ELECTRICAL PERFORMANCE

To create variable capacitors, xed MIM capacitors are combined in series with RF MEMS capacitive switches as shown in Figure 1. This creates a two-state capacitor whose value is set by the series combination of the xed cap and the capacitance of the RF MEMS. The minimum value of the twostate capacitor is limited by the off-capacitance of the MEMS, and the maximum value is limited by the on-capacitance of the RF MEMS. Generally, the value of the xed cap is kept below the on-capacitance of the MEMS switch to minimize the effect of MEMS variation. Combinations of these two-state capacitors with xed capacitors allow construction of variable capacitor structures, ref. [1].

The basic RF MEMS capacitive switch is shown in Figure 2. The structure is basically a parallel-plate capacitor with a movable top plate. Applying a voltage between the membrane (top plate) and electrode (bottom plate) creates an electric eld. When the eld is strong enough, the membrane will ex downward and contact the dielectric. A simple electrical model of the switch is shown in Figure 3. Typical on capacitance (membrane down) is 3 pF, and off capacitance (membrane up) is 30 fF, [2, 3]. The xed capacitor used were metal-insulatormetal (MIM) capacitors, as shown in Figure 4. Both top and bottom plates of the capacitor are gold, with a thin silicon nitride dielectric layer ( r = 6 8). Average capacitance, resistance, and Q at 1 GHz for four MIM test structures are shown in Table I. It should be noted that when measuring high-Q devices it can be difcult to extract accurate values for Q. The Q values are

RSE

RSE

Fixed Cap

RF MEMS
RSH

CON/OFF

RSH

Figure 1. Schematic of a two-state variable capacitor using RF MEMS.

Figure 3. Simple schematic of the RF MEMS capacitive switch. [Color gure can be viewed in the online issue, which is available at www.interscience.wiley.com.]

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C4

Control Lines

C3 C2 C1 C0

Figure 5. Schematic of a four-bit variable capacitor using RF MEMS. Figure 4. Layout of a MIM capacitor.

very sensitive to small errors in R and can be difcult to extract. Other measurements of similar capacitors yielded Qs that varied by as much as 100%. This large variation depends upon the specic measurement conditions, such as the calibration method used or the condition of the RF probes. The schematic of a four-bit variable capacitor is shown in Figure 5. It consists of ve xed capacitors, four of which are in series with an RF MEMS capacitive switch. A layout of a four-bit variable cap is shown in Figure 6. Depending on which combination of switches are actuated, the capacitance across the variable capacitor can be set. In the design of a variable capacitor, the xed capacitors are designed to give even steps of capacitance between the minimum and maximum required values of capacitance. The variable capacitor layout shown in Figure 6 incorporates some subtle improvements over the previous versions of variable capacitors. The xed capacitor values are shown in Table II. The variable capacitor structure is straightened out in order to place the larger capacitor states closer to the RF signal path. This was done to minimize the series inductance. Reducing the series inductance of the capacitors is especially important in the
TABLE I. Average Measured Resistance, Capacitance, and Q for MIM Capacitor Test Structures

Figure 6. Photograph of a variable capacitor. [Color gure can be viewed in the online issue, which is available at www. interscience.wiley.com.]

larger capacitors, as unwanted self resonance can degrade the frequency response of a lter. A side benet of this rearrangement is that the digital control lines can easily be routed to the RF MEMS devices without having to cross over any of the RF paths. Measured data for a typical variable capacitor is shown in Figure 7. The capacitance increases in even steps except for the step between steps 7 and 8. The C4 capacitor value was slightly too large, which caused the gap in capacitance values. The capacitance is very at versus frequency, which is due to the high self-resonant frequency of the structure.
TABLE II. Fixed Capacitor Values for the Circuit Shown in Figure 6.

Nominal C pF 0.56 1.06 5.11 10.28

R, ohms (@ 1 GHz) 1.60 0.60 0.10 0.13

Q (@ 1GHz) 179.08 251.74 302.40 120.19

C0 C1 C2 C3 C4

3.08 pF 0.231 pF 0.498 pF 1.18 pF 3.88 pF

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7.00 6.50 6.00 5.50 5.00 4.50 4.00 3.50 3.00 2.50 2.00 0.050

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Capacitance, pF

then the variable capacitors must be roughly capable of tuning Cmax = 2 Cmin The implications can be seen in the following gures. Two tunable lters were designed. Both were ve-pole capacitively coupled 0.1 dB Chebyshev bandpass lters with sixteen states and xed 180 MHz bandwidth but with different tuning ranges. Both lters used a xed 2 nH inductor. Using a spreadsheet, the series and shunt capacitances of Figure 8 were calculated for each frequency step. These values are shown in Figures 9 and 10. The starting point for these calculations is given in ref. [1]. The lter of Figure 9 had a tuning range of 885 to 986 MHz, or an 11% tuning range. The series and shunt capacitor values versus tuning state have very slight curvature, and can be approximated quite well with a straight line. This works well with the variable capacitor structure described in Section III. Step size for this lter will be even, and bandwidth will be relatively constant across the tuning range. The lter of Figure 10 had a tuning range of 996 to 2068 MHz, or a 108% tuning range. The series and shunt capacitor values versus tuning state have a noticeable curvature, and a linear approximation is not as good. In practice, the variable capacitors will be designed to have the correct value at the maximum and minimum tuning ranges, and vary linearly with state between the extremes. Step size for this lter will be uneven, with larger steps at the high end of the tuning range. As the values of the coupling capacitors are somewhat at, the bandwidth will be roughly constant across the tuning range, with a slightly larger bandwidth in the center of the band.

0.100

0.150 Frequency, GHz

0.200

0.250

Figure 7. Capacitance versus frequency for the sixteen states of the variable capacitor.

III. TUNABLE FILTER TOPOLOGY

Of the many lter topologies available, only a few are amenable to construction of a tunable lter. The capacitively coupled LC resonators bandpass lter, shown in Fig. 8, was chosen as the baseline design [4 5]. The redundancy of the elements allows an extra degree of freedom in the choice of component values, which allowed the inductance to stay constant as the center frequency is tuned. Choosing the component values is challenging, and several design and simulation iterations are necessary. The designer is given electrical requirements, such as frequency range over which the lter must tune, bandwidth, insertion loss, and number of tunable states, that must be satised. Unfortunately, it may be impossible to simultaneously satisfy all requirements. For example, if a constant bandwidth is required, the insertion loss of the lter will vary across the tuning range. If a constant insertion loss is required, the bandwidth must vary across the tuning range [6]. Choice of the inductor is determined primarily by the Q of available devices, as in a xed lter design. An added constraint is that if a tunable lter using xed inductors has a tuning range of = fmax fmin

IV. TUNABLE FILTER REALIZATIONS

The designs presented here incorporate the improvements in variable capacitor design

Cs01

L1

Cs12

L2

Cs23

L3

Cs34

L4

Cs45

L5

Cs56

Cp1

Cp2

Cp3

Cp4

Cp5

Figure 8.

Schematic of a capacitively coupled ve-pole bandpass lter.

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14 12 Capacitance, pF 10 8 6 4 2 0 885 Cp1, Cp5 Cs12,Cs45 Cp2, Cp4 Cs23, Cs34 Cp3 Cs01, Cs56

935 Center Frequency, MHz

985

Figure 9. Variation of capacitance with tuning state for a ve-pole lter, fc = 885986 MHz. [Color gure can be viewed in the online issue, which is available at www. interscience.wiley.com.]

described earlier, as well as processing improvements related to the metalization. These designs have improved electrical performance, have a better control structure, and demonstrate the ability to incorporate these devices into higher level assemblies. Improved wafer processing also reduced the lter insertion loss and improved device quality. To date, seventeen different tunable lters using RF MEMS have been built. They range in complexity from simple one-pole structures with
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 996

twelve MEMS devices to six-pole lters with 139 MEMS devices. Both on-chip and off-chip inductors have been studied. The lter frequencies covered 70 MHz to 2.8 GHz. As space is limited, only two representative designs will be discussed.

UHF Tunable Filter

A ve-pole 0.1 dB Chebyshev bandpass lter design, denoted as the UHF lter, is presented

Capacitance, pF

Cp1, Cp5 Cs12, Cs45 Cs23, Cs34 Cp3 Cp2, Cp4 Cs01, Cs56 1496 Center Frequency, MHz 1996

Figure 10.

Variation of capacitance with tuning state for a ve-pole lter, fc = 9962068 MHz.

0.29 pF 0.65 pF 1.62 pF 8.55 pF 5.32 pF

l=2057 um w=125 um 0.075 pF 0.15 pF 0.32 pF 0.71 pF 2.13 pF

l=2057s w=125 um 0.06 pF 0.12 pF 0.24 pF 0.52 pF 1.62 pF

l=2057 um w=125 um 0.06 pF 0.12 pF 0.24 pF 0.52 pF 1.62 pF

l=2057 um w=125 um 0.075 pF 0.15 pF 0.32 pF 0.71 pF 2.13 pF

l=2057 um w=125 um 0.29 pF 0.65 pF 1.62 pF 8.55 pF 5.32 pF

0.17 pF

0.17 pF

0.42 pF

0.89 pF

0.80 pF

0.39 pF

6.96 pF

2.16 pF

0.80 pF

0.54 pF 1.22 pF

6.96 pF

0.39 pF

1.87 pF

1.87 pF

0.17 pF

0.54 pF 1.22 pF

0.22 pF

7.21 pF

7.69 pF

7.21 pF

3.43 pF

Figure 11.

Schematic for the UHF lter.

3.43 pF

0.22 pF

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Figure 12. Layout of the UHF ve-pole lter. Die size is 3.5 mm by 14 mm. [Color gure can be viewed in the online issue, which is available at www. interscience.wiley.com.]

here. This lter had a center frequency tuning range of 885 MHz to 986 MHz with a constant bandwidth of 180 MHz. As described earlier, the capacitively coupled LC resonator design was chosen. A lumped element design was derived for the maximum and minimum tuning frequencies with constant resonator inductances of 2.9 nH. On-chip inductors were used to demonstrate the potential for integration of entire lters on a chip, with the path to ground provided by ribbon bonds to the carrier plate. Four-bit variable capacitors were designed to cover the required tuning ranges based on the lumped designs. The schematic and layout are shown in Figure 11 and Figure 12. The measured insertion loss and return loss of the ve-pole lter is shown in Figure 13. The lter tuned from 880 to 992 MHz, with the center frequency insertion loss across all tuning states from 6.6 and 7.3 dB. Measured bandwidth varied between 168 and 174 MHz. Return loss was better than 10 dB for all tuning states. The bandwidth and passband shape stayed relatively constant as the center frequency of the lter was tuned.
0 -5
Insertion Loss (dB)

VHF FILTER
A six-pole 0.1 dB Chebyshev bandpass lter, denoted as the VHF design, is presented here. This lter had a center frequency tuning range of 110 MHz to 160 MHz with a variable bandwidth from 37 MHz to 58 MHz. A lumped element design was derived for the maximum and minimum tuning frequencies with constant resonator inductances of 27 nH. Off-chip inductors were used in this case because the required value of inductance was too large to incorporate on-chip. Also, the improved Q of the off-chip inductors improved the insertion loss compared to the onchip designs. As with the previous design, four-bit variable capacitors were designed to cover the required tuning ranges based on the lumped designs. Some of the larger capacitor states used multiple MEMS devices to switch large capacitancies. The schematic and layout are shown in Figure 14 and Figure 15. The measured insertion loss and return loss of the ve-pole lter is shown in Figure 16. Center frequency insertion loss across all tuning states was from 3.7 to 4.2 dB. Return loss
10 5 0 -5 -10 -15 -20 -25 -30
Return Loss (dB)

-10 -15 -20 -25 -30 -35 -40 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4

Frequency (GHz)

Figure 13. UHF frequency response. [Color gure can be viewed in the online issue, which is available at www. interscience.wiley.com.]

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90.0 pF 12. 99 0 pF 6.4 1.5 0.6 9.9 90 60 20 20 pF pF pF pF

127.45 pF 127.45 pF

27 nH

27 nH

43.290 pF 43.290 pF

14.620 pF 14.620 pF 5.20 pF 5.20 pF 24.150 pF 24.150 pF

12. 99 0 pF

6.4 1.5 0.6 9.9 90 60 20 20 pF pF pF pF

12. 99 0 pF

6.4 1.5 0.6 14. 90 60 20 71 pF pF pF 0 pF

was better than 15 dB for all tuning states. The passband shape stayed relatively constant as the center frequency of the lter was tuned, while the bandwidth increased as the center frequency was tuned higher. This resulted in the lter having less insertion loss at the highest tuning state than at the lowest tuning state. When compared to a conventional switchedlter bank, the advantages of RF MEMS-based lters are remarkable. Analysis indicates that compared with a typical switched-lter bank, use of RF MEMS tunable lters allow a 60X reduction in size, 150X reduction in weight, and a 10X reduction in the number of RF support switches. A single MEMS-based lter can have sixteen tunable states, replacing sixteen xed frequency lters. The low power requirements of RF MEMS can reduce lter assembly power requirements 8X. Such size, weight, power, and circuit complexity reductions are crucial in modern communications designs.

71.73 pF 71.73 pF

V. CONCLUSION
Two tunable bandpass lters designs using RF MEMS were demonstrated. Insertion loss for the ve-pole UHF lter with on-chip inductors was measured to be between 6.6 and 7.3 dB, and between 3.7 and 4.2 dB for the six-pole VHF lter with off-chip inductors. Both lters exhibited good return loss across the tuning range. Passband shape was also maintained across the tuning range. With their high degree of integration, RF MEMS show great potential for weight, power consumption, and size reduction. Ongoing design and process improvements will reduce the insertion loss further, as well as extend the operating frequency range.

27 nH

27 nH

28.34 pF 28.34 pF 10.78 pF 10.78 pF 4.15 pF 4.15 pF 20.92 pF 20.92 pF

12. 99 0 pF

6.4 1.5 0.6 14. 90 60 20 71 pF pF pF 0 pF

12. 99 0 pF

6.4 1.5 0.6 9.9 90 60 20 20 pF pF pF pF

127.45 pF 127.45 pF

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
27 nH

27 nH

Raytheon, RF MEMS group, DARPA contract number F30602-97-C-0186.

43.290 pF 43.290 pF

REFERENCES
1. Charles L. Goldsmith, Andrew Malczewski, Zhimin Jamie Yao, Shea Chen, and David Hinzel, RF MEMS variable capacitors for tunable lters, International Journal of RF and Microwave ComputerAided Engineering, 9 (1999), 362374. 2. Zhimin Jamie Yao, Shea Chen, Susan Eshelmann, David Denniston, and Charles Goldsmith, Micromachined low-loss microwave switches, IEEE microelectromechanical systems, 8 (1999), 129134.

14.620 pF 14.620 pF 5.20 pF 5.20 pF 24.150 pF 24.150 pF

90.0 pF

Figure 14.

VHF lter schematic.

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Figure 15. Layout of the VHF ve-pole lter. Die size is 4 mm by 16 mm. [Color gure can be viewed in the online issue, which is available at www. interscience.wiley.com.]
0 -5 Insertion Loss (dB) -10 -15 -20 -25 -30 -35 -40 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 10 5 0 -5 -10 -15 -20 -25 -30 Return Loss (dB)

Frequency (GHz)

Figure 16. VHF frequency response. [Color gure can be viewed in the online issue, which is available at www. interscience.wiley.com.] 3. Charles L. Goldsmith, Zhimin Jamie Yao, Susan Eshelmann, and David Denniston, Performance of low-loss RF MEMS capacitive switches, IEEE microwave and guided waves letters, 8 (1998), 269271. 4. Anatol I, Zverev, Handbook of lter synthesis, Wiley, New York, 1967. 5. G.L. Matthaei, L. Young, and E.M.T. Jones, Microwave lters, impedance-matching networks, and coupling structures, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1964. 6. Thomas R. Cuthbert, Broadband direct-coupled and matching RF networks, TRCPEP Publications, Greenwood, AR, 1999.

BIOGRAPHIES
James Brank received his Bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering from Texas A&M University in 1982. He received his Masters degree in Electrical Engineering from Southern Methodist University in 1987. From 1983 to 1987 he was employed at E-Systems, Garland Division where he performed integration and test of electronic warfare receivers. From 1987 to 1988 he worked for Raytheon in Bristol, Tennessee where he designed components for the Standard Missile 2 program. From 1989 to the present, he has been employed by Raytheon Systems Company (formerly the Defense Electronics Group of Texas Instruments) where he has been involved in a wide variety of projects, ranging from the design of X-band radar modules to the application of phased array antenna technology for cellular telephone Smart Antennas. Currently he is designing low loss MEMS tunable bandpass lters. Zhimin J. Yao received her Ph.D. from the School of Materials Science and Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology in 1995. She then worked as a post doctoral research associate at the School of Electrical Engineering, Cornell University for one year. Her research emphasis was on silicon bulk micromachining. Dr. Yao is currently working at Rockwell Science Center in Thousand Oaks, CA. Her research interests

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fall of 2000. He is currently working in the Applied Research Laboratory at Raytheon on RF/MEMS.

include design, fabrication and characterization of microelectromechanical systems. Michael Eberly has been a member of the IEEE since 1988 as a student member. He earned his BSEE from the University of South Florida in 1992. He was with the United States Navy, on active duty, from 1992 to 1994, transferring then to the Naval Reserve. He has continued with the Naval Reserve to the present and currently holds the rank of Lieutenant. In 1994, he began studying part time for his Masters degree, while teaching basic courses in Electrical Engineering Technology at Tampa Technical Institute. In 1996, he was selected to study as the Texas Instruments Fellowship Student at the University of South Florida. He worked for Raytheon since the summer of 1997 as an engineering intern as part of the previously mentioned fellowship and permanently since August 1998. He was awarded his Masters Degree in Electrical Engineering in the

Andrew Malczewski was born in Warsaw, Poland in May, 1973. He earned a Bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1996. Since 1996, he has been involved in the design and development of microwave and millimeter-wave circuits for Raytheon Systems Company (formerly the Defense Electronics Group of Texas Instruments). He is also involved in the development of RF MEMS technology for receiver and antenna applications. He is presently pursuing his Masters degree in Electrical Engineering. Karl Varian photo and biography not available.

Karl Varian photo and biography not available.