Miniaturized multi-band filter banks for Extravehicular radio (EVA) Applications

NASA seeks to employ micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) S-band filters to reduce the size, weight, and power of its reconfigurable, fault-tolerant, next-generation extravehicular activity (EVA) radio. Of particular interest to NASA are banks of channel-select filters from 2.4 - 2.483 GHz. We describe a novel double-layer contour-mode piezoelectric aluminum nitride (AlN) resonator topology that is amenable for use in GHz filter banks. Measured results of a 1.7 GHz resonator are presented, showing a motional resistance of 60 Omega and an electromechanical coupling coefficient of 0.9%. Excellent agreement with a lumped parameter model of the device is observed. Ongoing simulation and design efforts of 2.4 GHz filters employing the novel AlN resonator topology are also reviewed.