The topics covered by Technical Committee MTT-21 “MEMS Components and Technologies,” cover a wide range of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and micromachining technologies as applied to RF devices, components, and systems.
Electronic devices considered by the committee include MEMS switches and resonators, and micromachined integrated passive components such as inductors, capacitors, varactors, and transmission lines. These devices often serve as the key control components needed for circuits such as phase shifters and tunable filters, and may enable new classes of reconfigurable antennas. Often these critical circuits are enabled by the high performance and high linearity offered by MEMS. Circuits using MEMS are expected to have an impact on a wide variety of RF systems, including phased-array antennas for radars and receiver front ends for communications.
The emphasis of this committee is on the present issues which arise as the technology matures and becomes mainstream. These issues include design, fabrication, electromechanical and electromagnetic modeling, testing, packaging, and reliability.
The committee coordinates activities related to RF-MEMS within the IEEE MTT community. We meet (typically) once yearly during the week of the International Microwave Symposium, where we explore themes for upcoming workshops, special sessions, and panel sessions, and volunteer to develop these ideas into proposals for the upcoming year’s Symposium.
As RF-MEMS and micromachining technology are quite multi-disciplinary in nature, the activities of this committee are often sponsored with other MTT Technical Committees, such as MTT-1 (Computer-Aided Design), MTT-12 (Microwave and Millimeter-Wave Packaging and Manufacturing), and MTT-15 (Microwave Field Theory).
The following talks are available to IEEE MTT Chapters, Sections, and other interested groups. Please contact the speaker directly to schedule a talk.
Three Dimensional Millimeter Wave Circuits Dr. J. Robert Reid Air Force Research Laboratory Hanscom AFB, MA James.Reid@hanscom.af.mil 781.377.1077 Abstract:
This presentation covers the design and realization of microwave and
millimeter-wave circuits using three dimensional metal micro-machining
processes. Circuits fabricated using these process have several
advantages over competing technologies. One particularly
important advantage is the ability to realize TEM transmission lines
that operate from DC to over 300 GHz and can be arbitrarily routed on a
substrate. These lines are fully enclosed providing high isolation even
at millimeter wave frequencies. A second advantage is the ability to
accurately reproduce a wide variety of circuits including couplers and
filters. Topics covered in this presentation will include the
fabrication processes, circuit design and implementation, and the
advantages and disadvantages of this new technology. |
RF MEMS Devices Using
Piezoelectric Thin Films Abstract:
Piezoelectricity is an extremely important physical phenomenon and in
ceramic form has been widely used in sensors, actuators, and
transducers. Piezoelectric thin film applications have been limited in
the past with a majority of efforts emphasizing lower performance
materials such as ZnO and AlN because of their ability to be easily
integrated with standard microelectronics fabrication. However, a
special class of functional materials, ferroelectrics, possesses a
tremendous potential in new MEMS devices and has seen increasing
research interest in recent years. Of particular interest is the use of
lead zirconate titanate (PZT) thin films for actuators. Recently, PZT
actuators have been successfully integrated to yield RF MEMS switches
capable of operating at less than 10 volts.
Dr. Ronald G. Polcawich US Army Research Laboratory Adelphi, MD rpolcawich@arl.army.mil 301.394.1275 |
Distributed RF-MEMS Circuits Prof. N. Scott Barker University of Virginia Charlottesville, VA barker@virginia.edu 434.924.6783 Abstract: In order to reduce the packaging requirements for RF-MEMS devices we have developed a switched capacitor technology with minimal contact. Although this switched capacitor design results in a reduced capacitance ratio in the range of 5-10 we have also developed circuit designs for phase shifters and tunable matching networks (and the same can be done with filters) which do not require a capacitance ratio over 10. In addition to packaging, another Achilles' heel for RF-MEMS has been the uncertainty in pull-down voltages due to residual stress that is built into the beam during fabrication. We have successfully identified the major contribution of this stress to thin-film gold beams and are now able to routinely fabricate thin-film (< 1 micron thick) gold cantilevers with almost zero tip deflection upon release, and fixed-fixed beams with a pull-down voltage that nearly matches the analytical model without the need for adding on an unknown stress term. |
Technical Committee MTT-21 has sponsored the following workshops,
tutorials,
short courses, and panel sessions during past Symposiums:
| IMS | Title | Organizers | Session |
| 2009 Boston |
TBD | ||
| TBD | |||
| 2008 Atlanta |
No activity | ||
| 2007 Honolulu |
SDR and Cognitive Radio – The Need for Reconfigurable RF Front-Ends | Art
Morris Rhonda F. Drayton |
Half Day Workshop |
| High-Q RF MEMS and Tunable Filters | Gabriel
Rebeiz William Chappell |
Full Day Workshop | |
| Multidomain
Physics Modeling of MEMS and NEMS | A.
C. Cangellaris N. Aluru |
Half Day Tutorial | |
| Novel Materials for RF MEMS | S.
Pacheco G. Piazza | Half Day Tutorial | |
| Will RF-MEMS Make the Commercial Leap? | Scott
Barker Gabriel Rebeiz |
Panel Session | |
| 2006 San Francisco |
Three-Dimensional Integration and Packaging | Linda
Katehi Joy Laskar |
Half Day Workshop |
| Introduction to MEMs Resonators and Filters | Art
Morris Farrokh Ayazi | Half Day Tutorial | |
| 2005 Ft. Worth |
Recent Applications in RF MEMS | Dan
Hyman Gabriel Rebeiz |
Half Day Workshop |
| Reconfigurable MEMS for Optimum RF/Microwave Circuits | Hector
De Los Santos Art Morris | Half Day Workshop | |
| MEMS, BAW, and Micromachined Filter Technology | Chuck
Goldsmith Gabriel Rebeiz |
Full Day Workshop | |
| Reliability Testing and Reliability Enhancement of RF MEMS Switches | Jack
Ebel Harvey Newman John Papapolymerou | Half Day Workshop | |
| Will Micromachining Ever Make It Into RF/Microwave Silicon Volume Manufacturing? | Joachim
Burghartz Rhonda F. Drayton | Panel Session | |
| Challenges and Solutions for Employing New Micro-Component-Based Functions into Multi-Band Mobile Devices | Didier
Lacroix Tom Breunig | Panel Session | |
| 2003 Philadelphia |
Advances IN RF MEMS Packaging Technology | Dan
Hyman Rhonda F. Drayton | Half Day Workshop |
| Concurrent EM, Mechanical and Thermal Modeling OF RF MEMS | R
Sorrentino Peter Russer Linda Katehi |
Half Day Workshop | |
| RF MEMS business ventures and issues | J.
C. Chiao Krishna Srinivasan | Panel Session | |
| Integrated Passives | George
Ponchak Hector De Los Santos A. Burghartz | Half Day Workshop | |
| 2002 Seattle |
MEMS Technology for Highly Integrated RF Systems | Navid
Yazdi | Full Day Tutorial |
| Intelligent RF Front-ends | Edgar Martinez | Half Day Workshop | |
| Advances in RF MEMS Technology | Gabriel Rebeiz | Half Day Workshop | |
| Modeling of RF MEMS Switches | Gabriel
Rebeiz | Half Day Workshop | |
| 2001 Phoenix |
Advances
in
RF MEMS: Components, Packaging Techniques, Reliability and Microphonics |
Gabriel
Rebeiz John Smith | Full Day Workshop |
| Introduction to MEMS and RF MEMS | Debye Scheidt | Full Day Short Course | |
| 2000 Boston |
Microwave and Photonic Applications of MEMS | Richard
Ranson Paul Matthews |
Full Day Workshop |
