RF MEMS (1):

Introduction to RF Systems
Micromechanical Resonator Oscillators and
Micromechanical Filters for Wireless Applications

Reference:
• C.T.C. Nguyen, MTT-S 1999 (http://www.eecs.umich.edu/~ctnguyen/mtt99.pdf)
• C.T.C. Nguyen, et al., IEEE Trans. MTT, 1999
• Valluri Rao (Intel), MEMS for RF Integration
(ftp://download.intel.com/research/silicon/BobRaoIDF022802.pdf)

Acknowledgment:
• Dr. Dooyoung Hah

M. C. Wu
1 EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B

Introduction and Background

M. C. Wu
2 EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B
 Technology Trends of Wireless
Telecommunication Systems

Year 1987 1996 2001

Miniaturization
Smaller
Lighter

Analog
Digital
Lower Voltage
Lower Power
Higher SNR
Multi-functional
High performance

M. C. Wu
3 EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B

Potential Applications of RF MEMS

Antenna

Bistable Display

RF Switch

Tunable Capacitors and Inductors

Tunable Filter

MEMS Microphone

M. C. Wu
4 EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B
 Miniaturization of Transceivers

http://www.eecs.umich.edu/~ctnguyen/mtt99.pdf
M. C. Wu
5 EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B

MEMS-Enabled Miniature Wireless Transceiver

Ref: C. T.-C. Nguyen, "Micromechanical components for miniaturized low-power

communications," Proceedings, 1999 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium RF
MEMS Workshop June 18, 1999, pp. 48-77.
M. C. Wu
6 EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B
M. C. Wu
7 EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B

Bottlenecks in Current Microwave/MM-Wave

Systems – Band Selection Filters
• High-Q (Q ~ 1000’s) filters are needed in heterodyne
communication receivers for frequency selection in RF and IF
bands
• Current solution: Off-chip surface-acoustic wave (SAW) filter
– Bulky (unit: mm)

3.8mm
Attenuation [dB]

3.8mm

IF
IF filter
filter RFRF filter
filter
ff00:: 240MHz
240MHz ff00:: 868MHz
868MHz
∆∆f:f: 260kHz
260kHz ∆∆f:f: 600kHz
600kHz
Frequency [MHz]
Q: ~1000
Q: ~1000 Q:
Q: ~1500
~1500

M. C. Wu
8 EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B
 Bottlenecks in Current Microwave/MM-Wave
Telecommunication Systems – Passive Elements
• Lack of high-Q (~ 1000) passive elements like inductors and
capacitors in matching circuit or bias-Tee, etc.

MIM
MIMCapacitor
Capacitor Spiral
SpiralInductor
Inductor Active
Active Inductor
Inductor
•• Low
LowQQ(<
(<100)
100) •• Low
LowQQ(~(~10)
10) •• Large
LargeNoise
Noise
•• Low
Lowresonant
resonant •• High
HighPower
Power
frequency
frequency consumption
consumption

M. C. Wu
9 EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B

Integrable MEMS RF Components

MEMS RF Switch MEMS Inductor

MEMS Filter MEMS Tunable Capacitor

M. C. Wu
10 EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B
 Advantages and Challenges of RF MEMS
• Advantages:
– High-Q, Low Loss
• Filter, Phase shifter, Inductor, Capacitor, Switch
– Tunability, Reconfigurability
• Inductor, Capacitor, Switch
– Low Power Consumption
• Electrostatic Actuation

• Challenges
– Actuation Speed
• T/R Switch
– Operating RF Frequency
• RF Filter
– Reliability
– Packaging
– Integration

M. C. Wu
11 EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B

Micromechanical Resonator Oscillators

M. C. Wu
12 EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B
 High-Q Resonators

http://www.eecs.umich.edu/~ctnguyen/mtt99.pdf
M. C. Wu
13 EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B

Attaining High Q

M. C. Wu
14 EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B
 Two-Port Micromechanical Resonator
Using Comb-Drive Actuator

M. C. Wu
15 EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B

Lumped Element Model (Senturia’s Book)

Lumped
Lumped Elements
Elements in
in
Mechanical
Mechanical Domain
Domain

Impedance
Transformation

Equivalent
Equivalent Circuit
Circuit
Elements
Elements inin
Electrical
Electrical Domain
Domain

1. Linearize 2-port capacitor

2. Impedance transformation

(See HW problem for details)

M. C. Wu
16 EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B
 Linearized Transducers
Physical Circuit Equivalent Circuit (Nonlinear)

Linearized Equivalent Circuit

M. C. Wu
17 EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B

Linearization – Small Signal Analysis

Relations between “Efforts” Relations between “Flows”

∂W *
1 ∂C Q = V ⋅C
F= = V2
∂x 2 ∂x ∂C ∂C ∂X ∂C D
I =V ⋅ =V ⋅ ⋅ =V ⋅ ⋅X
F = Fdc + f ⋅ sin(ωt ) ∂t ∂X ∂t ∂X
V = Vdc + v ⋅ sin(ωt ) I = I dc + i ⋅ sin(ωt )
1 ∂C X = X dc − x ⋅ sin(ωt ) Negative sign due
Fdc + f ⋅ sin(ωt ) = (Vdc + v ⋅ sin(ωt )) 2 to definition of flow
2 ∂x ∂C direction
i = −Vdc xD
1
( )
= (Vdc ) + 2 ⋅ Vdc ⋅ v ⋅ sin(ωt )
2
2 ∂C
∂x
∂x

∂C
f = Vdc ⋅ ⋅v AC terms
∂x

Linearized capacitive  f   n 0  v 

transducer is a   = 1  

x
    0 −  i
Transformer n  
∂C
Turn Ratio: n = Vdc
∂x
M. C. Wu
18 EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B
 Impedance Transformation

f1 f2
+ +

Zin (s) e1 e2 Z (s)

- -

Equivalent Impedance in Impedance in

Electrical Domain  f   n 0  v  Mechanical Domain
  = 1  
D
x
    0 −  i
n  

1
Z in ( s) = Z (s)
n2

M. C. Wu
19 EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B

Small Signal Equivalent Circuit of Microresonators

Unit of n2/k
is Farad

∂C
n = Vdc
∂x

M. C. Wu
20 EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B
 Equivalent Circuit of 2-Port Resonator
(in Electrical Domain)

Fixed electrical
Capacitance
Between fixed comb
And ground plane

C. T.-C. Nguyen, “Micromechanical resonators for oscillators and filters,” Proceedings

IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium, Seattle, WA, pp. 489-499, Nov. 7-10, 1995
M. C. Wu
21 EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B

Comb-Transduced Folded-Beam Microresonator

M. C. Wu
22 EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B
 Micromechanical Filters

M. C. Wu
23 EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B

Quality Factor and Shape Factor

f0 f0: resonant frequency

Q= ∆f: bandwidth
∆f
M. C. Wu
24 EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B
 High-Order Resonators

M. C. Wu
25 EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B

Coupled Resonator System

Mode shapes of 3-resonator micromechanical filters

and their corresponding frequencies :

Coupling removes the degeneracy of resonant frequencies of free-

running oscillators

M. C. Wu
26 EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B
 High-Order Micromechanical Filters:
Lumped Mechanical Model and Its Equivalent LCR Circuit

Analogies
C-k
L-m

M. C. Wu
27 EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B

Importance of High Q:
Low Loss Filters

M. C. Wu
28 EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B
 Three-Coupled-Resonator Filter

M. C. Wu
29 EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B

Three-Resonator Spring-Coupled Filter

~20dB
~40dB

two-resonator
three-resonator

M. C. Wu
30 EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B
 High-Order Microresonator Filter

M. C. Wu
31 EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B

High Frequency Resonators

M. C. Wu
32 EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B
 Vertically Driven Micromechanical Resonator

M. C. Wu
33 EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B

Electronic Tuning of Center Frequency

M. C. Wu
34 EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B
 Experimental Vertically Driven Resonator

M. C. Wu
35 EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B

Coupled Vertically Driven Resonators

M. C. Wu
36 EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B
 Two Coupled Vertically Driven Resonator

M. C. Wu
37 EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B

Scaling of Resonant Frequency and Q

1 kr E h f0 kk
f0 = = 1.03 Q= = r 12
2π mr ρ L2r ∆f k s12

kr: spring constant of resonator ks12: coupling beam spring constant

mr: resonator mass k12: normalized coupling coefficient
E: Young’s modulus for a given filter type
ρ: density (Chebyshev,…)

M. C. Wu
38 EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B
 Position of Coupling Spring

•• Coupling
Couplingspring
springand
andresonators
resonatorsare areof
ofsimilar
similarsize
size

Low

Low QQ
•• Dynamic
Dynamicspring constantkkr rof
springconstant ofaaclamped-clamped
clamped-clampedbeam beamis
is
larger at locations closer to the anchor points
larger at locations closer to the anchor points


Low
Lowvelocity
velocitypoint
point


QQcan
canbebeincreased
increased

Lr/2
Lr Lr/10

Q=24
Q=24 Q=341
Q=341
M. C. Wu
39 EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B

VHF Free-Free Beam High-Q

Micromechanical Resonator

M. C. Wu (determined the gap) J. MEMS, Vol. 9, No. 3, 2000, C. T. –C. Nguyen, et al.
40 EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B
 Comparison of Frequency Characteristics

Clamped-clamped
Clamped-clamped beam beam Free-free
Free-free beam
beam
-- LLr=16 µm, d=0.03 µm -- LLr=17.8 µm, d=0.12 µm
r=16 µm, d=0.03 µm r=17.8 µm, d=0.12 µm
-- VVpp=35
=35 V,
V, ff00=54.2
=54.2 MHz
MHz -- VVpp=86
=86 V,
V, ff00=50.35
=50.35 MHz
MHz
-- Q=840
Q=840 -- Q=8,430
Q=8,430
M. C. Wu
41 EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B

New Development in
GHz Micromechanical Resonators

M. C. Wu
42 EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B
 Scaling of Lateral Micromechanical Resonators
• Advantages of lateral resonator
– Wider variety of resonant modes
– Balanced resonators (push-pull)
– More design flexibility
• As frequency scales up
– Resonator size shrinks
– Capacitive transducer gaps must
also shrink (to sub-100 nm for
VHF)
– High aspect ratio structures
• Combine Poly-Si (high-Q structural
materials) with metal electrode (high
conductivity)
– Self-aligned process

Hsu, Clark, Nguyen, “A sub-micron capacitive

gap process for multiple-metal-electrode
lateral micromechanical resonators,” MEMS
2001, p. 349

M. C. Wu
43 EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B

Radial Contour-Mode Disk µ-mechanical Resonator

• Radial contour mode allows

high resonant frequency
without requiring sub-micron
structures
• Place anchor at disk center –
nodal point of contour mode

Reduce mechanic loss and
increase Q

Hsu, Clark, Nguyen, “A sub-micron

capacitive gap process for multiple-
metal-electrode lateral
micromechanical resonators,” MEMS
2001, p. 349
M. C. Wu
44 EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B
 Process Flow for Lateral Resonator
with Sub-Micron Gap

Hsu, Clark, Nguyen, “A sub-micron capacitive gap process for multiple-metal-electrode lateral
micromechanical resonators,” MEMS 2001, p. 349

M. C. Wu
45 EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B