CAREER: MEMS Reconfigurable Filters for Multi-Band Low-Power Radios

职业：用于多频段低功耗无线电的 MEMS 可重构滤波器

• 批准号: 1055308
• 负责人: Mina Rais-Zadeh
• 金额: $ 40万
• 依托单位: Regents of the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-02-01 至 2017-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1055308&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; MEMS; Reconfigurable; Filters; Multi

This CAREER proposal aims at the development of a single-chip reconfigurable MEMS filter platformfor multi-band, multi-standard radios through fusion of acoustoelectrically amplified nano-mechanicalfilters and 3D tunable components. Reconfigurable filters can greatly enhance the performance andreduce the size of RF front-ends, and as such have received great attention for effective and low-powerprocessing of the frequency spectrum. Despite their great promise, lack of integration and narrowfrequency coverage of current reconfigurable filters continue to hinder their use in practical applications.In addition, current technologies have failed to reduce the size of filters without deteriorating criticalperformance metrics such as loss, power handling and termination impedance. To-date, a versatile andreconfigurable filter array platform does not exist in monolithic form, an important problem that hasremained unsolved despite major advancement in MEMS. This proposal tackles the fundamental issuesrelated to reconfigurable filter arrays and proposes a novel technique that offers frequency, bandwidth andamplitude tunability through integration of narrow-band acoustic filters with tunable lumped filters.These are believed to be the most prominent steps toward the realization of a single-chip multi-band lowpowerradio.Intellectual merits: The proposed work explores a new approach to developing integrated reconfigurablefilters with wide tuning range and reduced loss. This new approach relies on the acoustoelectric effect, aphenomenon caused by interactions between electrons and phonons. Using this effect, which is mosteffective in nano-scale, a new class of nano-mechanical acoustic filters with potentially negative loss (i.e.positive gain) will be developed. This will yield new opportunities for acoustic devices andinstrumentation. In addition, using advanced 3D micromachining techniques microscale tunable lumpedcomponents with unparalleled Qs exceeding 150 and wide tuning range will be developed. The high-Qtunable passives will be utilized to reduce parasitics of acoustic filters and assist in tuning their frequencyresponse. The PI will leverage her prior work on high-Q passives and micro-fabrication techniquestowards this proposed research. Along with the experimental work, the proposed research aims toadvance the scientific community?s understanding of the physical phenomena that govern theperformance of the proposed MEMS arrays and new technologies that overcome these physical limits.Broader Impact: The proposed research enables on-chip reconfigurable high-Q filtering, eliminatingmany of the redundant components in RF transceivers, which results in drastically smaller form factor andreduced power consumption. In a cellular phone, elimination of only one off-chip fixed-frequency filteras well as the associated matching network using the proposed technique reduces the transmit printedcircuit board area by more than 75%, while lowering the bill-of-materials. As such, the proposed researchwill have transformative impact on telecommunication. The reconfigurable MEMS filters developed inthis CAREER program could have far-reaching applications beyond wireless communication rangingfrom medical ultrasonic imaging to non-contact sensing. In addition to the outlined research effort, anintegrated educational program will be established which aims to educate students through directparticipation in the research activities. The outreach efforts of this project are aimed at promotingdiversity among engineers and scientists and specifically increasing the proportion of women inengineering to a healthy level (30%). To reach this goal and to motivate and educate students, the PIwill pursue the following avenues: (1) Educational outreach through School of Education to high schoolteachers to observe the classroom dynamics in the 6th and 7th grades where female students start to loseinterest in engineering as well as summer outreach programs to expose high school students to the field ofMEMS by involving them in the proposed research activities; (2) Involvement of undergraduate studentsfrom underrepresented groups in PI?s research and educational activities; (3) Creating a multi-disciplinaryscientific learning environment for students and training several doctoral students; (4) Introduction of anew graduate course on RF MEMS. Students will gain research experience and discover real worldapplications of RF MEMS through team projects in a laboratory setting; (5) Dissemination of thescientific results of this research.

该CAREER提案旨在通过融合声电放大纳米机械滤波器和3D可调谐组件，开发用于多频段、多标准无线电的单芯片可重构MEMS滤波器平台。可重构滤波器可以极大地提高射频前端的性能，减小前端的尺寸，因此在高效、低功耗的频谱处理方面受到了广泛的关注。尽管可重构滤波器有很大的发展前景，但其集成度低、频率覆盖范围窄等问题仍然阻碍着其在实际应用中的应用，而且，现有技术无法在不降低关键性能指标（如损耗、功率处理和终端阻抗）的情况下减小滤波器的尺寸。到目前为止，一个通用的和可重构的滤波器阵列平台不存在单片形式，一个重要的问题，hasremained未解决，尽管在MEMS的重大进展。该方案解决了与可重构滤波器阵列相关的基本问题，并提出了一种新的技术，通过集成窄带声滤波器和可调谐集总滤波器来提供频率、带宽和幅度的可调谐性。这些被认为是实现单芯片多频带低功耗无线电的最突出的步骤。提出的工作探索了一种新的方法来开发集成可重构滤波器具有宽的调谐范围和降低损耗。这种新方法依赖于声电效应，即电子和声子之间相互作用引起的现象。利用这种在纳米尺度上最有效的效应，将开发出一类具有潜在负损耗（即正增益）的新型纳米机械声滤波器。这将为声学设备和仪器提供新的机会。此外，利用先进的三维微机械加工技术，将开发出具有无与伦比的超过150的Q值和宽调谐范围的微型可调谐集总元件。高Q可调无源器件将被用来减少声滤波器的寄生效应，并有助于调谐其频率响应。PI将利用她以前在高Q无源器件和微制造技术方面的工作来进行这项拟议的研究。沿着实验工作，拟议的研究旨在推进科学界？更广泛的影响：所提出的研究能够实现片上可重构高Q滤波，消除RF收发器中的许多冗余元件，从而大大减小外形尺寸并降低功耗。在一个蜂窝电话，消除只有一个片外固定频率滤波器以及相关的匹配网络，使用所提出的技术减少了超过75%的发送印刷电路板面积，同时降低了物料清单。因此，拟议的研究将对电信产生变革性影响。在这项CAREER计划中开发的可重构MEMS滤波器可能具有超越无线通信的深远应用，从医疗超声成像到非接触式传感。除了概述的研究工作外，还将建立一个综合教育计划，旨在通过直接参与研究活动来教育学生。这一项目的推广工作旨在促进工程师和科学家的多样性，特别是将妇女在工程领域的比例提高到一个健康的水平（30%）。为了达到这一目标，并激励和教育学生，PI将采取以下途径：（1）通过教育学院向高中教师进行教育推广，以观察6年级和7年级的课堂动态，那里的女学生开始对工程失去兴趣，以及夏季推广计划，通过让高中学生参与拟议的研究活动，让他们接触MEMS领域;（2）来自代表性不足群体的本科生参与PI的情况？（3）为学生创造一个多学科的科学学习环境，培养多名博士生;（4）介绍新的RF MEMS研究生课程。学生将在实验室环境中通过团队项目获得研究经验并发现RF MEMS的真实的世界应用;（5）传播本研究的科学成果。