Integration of AlN micromechanical contour-mode technology filters with three-finger dual beam AlN MEMS switches

Abstract

In this paper, we present the first demonstration of the monolithic integration of Aluminum Nitride (AlN) micromechanical contour mode technology filters with dual-beam actuated MEMS AlN switches. This integration has lead to the development of the first prototype of a fully-integrated all-mechanical switchable filter. Integration has been demonstrated by using AlN contour-mode MEMS filters at two center frequencies, i.e. 98.7 and 279.9 MHz. The micromechanical switch design used here is a novel three-finger dual-beam topology that improves the isolation and insertion loss of the switch by decreasing the parasitic coupling between the DC and RF signals over a previous AlN MEMS dual-beam design. With the use of just one switch fabricated right next to, and integrated with the filter, the AlN MEMS filter is effectively turned off and its pass-band transmission is lowered to the out of band level at 279.9 MHz. ©20xx IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or to reuse any copyrighted component of this work in other works must be obtained from the IEEE. Disciplines Electro-Mechanical Systems

Single-ended-to-differential and differential-to-differential channel-select filters based on piezoelectric AlN contour-mode MEMS resonators

“…The filters were fabricated using a post-CMOS compatible process, which had also been used to integrate piezoelectric AlN RF MEMS switches capable of switching the CMRs on and off [11]. All the fabricated devices were directly probed in ambient conditions in a Desert Cryogenics ® TTP6 probe station and measured by an Agilent ® N5230A 4-port network analyzer after a complete 4-port calibration.…”

Novel electrode configurations in dual-layer stacked and switchable ALN contour-mode resonators for low impedance filter termination and reduced insertion loss

“…Another DLS electrode configuration is also shown to attain low insertion loss of 1.6 dB at 250 MHz and 4.0 dB at 1 GHz. The fabrication process used to make the DLS filters is fully compatible with the previously demonstrated piezoelectric AlN RF MEMS switches [9], which makes it possible to integrate multi-frequency switchable filter banks on a single chip. As a proof of concept, one of the new DLS low frequency (99 MHz) filters was effectively turned on and off by a piezoelectric AlN RF MEMS switch fabricated next to it on the same chip.…”

“…The fabrication process uses 5 masks and coincides with the first 5 steps that were used to make AlN RF MEMS switches [9,11]. In this case, a new method for the direct etching of AlN at low temperature (12 ˚C) with photoresist as a mask, instead of the conventional SiO 2 hard mask, has been adopted to improve the etching profile and therefore the resonator edges (Fig.…”

Demonstration of low voltage and functionally complete logic operations using body-biased complementary and ultra-thin ALN piezoelectric mechanical switches

“…MEMS switches [2] are readily available prototypes for verifying the characteristics of the mechanical transistor before scaling it into the NEMS regime. For this purpose, we have built an AlN piezoelectric MEMS switch [3]- [4]. Differently from all other actuation mechanisms like electrostatic [5]- [6], electromagnetic [7] and thermal [8], piezoelectric actuation gives us the advantage of being extremely linear in nature and requiring low power for actuation.…”

“…Differently from all other actuation mechanisms like electrostatic [5]- [6], electromagnetic [7] and thermal [8], piezoelectric actuation gives us the advantage of being extremely linear in nature and requiring low power for actuation. Lead Zirconate Titanate (PZT) [9]- [10] and AlN [3]- [4] are the two most commonly used piezoelectric materials for realizing MEMS switches. Over PZT, AlN has the advantage of being CMOS compatible, exhibiting lower leakage current for comparable film thicknesses and having shown preservation of piezoelectric coefficients when scaled from bulk to ultra-thin films [11].…”