Self-assembling MEMS variable and fixed RF inductors

Author

Lubecke, Victor M. ; Barber, Bradley ; Chan, Edward ; Lopez, Daniel ; Gross, Mihal E. ; Gammel, Peter

Author_Institution

Lucent Technol. Bell Labs., Murray Hill, NJ, USA

Volume

49

Issue

11

fYear

2001

fDate

11/1/2001 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

2093

Lastpage

2098

Abstract

Inductors play a key role in wireless front-end circuitry, yet are not generally well suited for conventional RF integrated-circuit (RFIC) fabrication processes. We have developed inductors that can be fabricated on a conventional RFIC silicon substrate, which use warping members to assemble themselves away from the substrate to improve quality factor (Q) and self-resonance frequency (SRF), and to provide a degree of variation in inductance value. These self-assembling variable inductors are realized through foundry provided microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) processing and have demonstrated temperature stable Q values greater than 13, SRF values well above 15 GHz, and inductance variations greater than 18%. Simulations suggest the potential for Q values above 20 and inductance variations greater than 30%, with optimized processing

Keywords

Q-factor; inductors; micromechanical devices; self-assembly; 15 GHz; RF integrated circuit fabrication process; Si; fixed RF inductor; inductance; microelectromechanical system; quality factor; self-assembly; self-resonance frequency; silicon substrate; variable RF inductor; warping member; wireless front-end circuit; Assembly; Fabrication; Foundries; Inductance; Inductors; Micromechanical devices; Q factor; Radio frequency; Radiofrequency integrated circuits; Silicon;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Microwave Theory and Techniques, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9480

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/22.963142

Filename

963142