SBIR Phase I: Miniaturized 10 MHz-500 MHz Single-Chip Multi-Frequency MEMS Filters for Electronic Communication

这项小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段研究旨在研究使用氮化铝(AlN)微机械-机电系统(MEMS)压电谐振器生产10 MHz至500 MHz小型化多频单芯片滤波器的可行性。这项工作的谐振器的基频由光刻定义的特征设置。这使得可以直接在计算机辅助设计(CAD)布局级别设计多频滤波器阵列，而不需要任何额外的蚀刻或沉积步骤。光刻频率的清晰度也使这种谐振器对薄膜均匀性的变化不敏感，这保证了显著的产量和成本优势。与传统的声表面波(SAW)和介质过滤器相比，这些过滤器表现出更高的性能，并在硅衬底上加工，最终将在成本和外形方面提供优势。预计该研究项目的结果将证明AlN轮廓过滤器可以超过商业中频过滤器的要求。这里提出的中频过滤器解决方案在尺寸和重量上提供了高达几个数量级的缩减，通过减少过滤器插入损耗来实现更低的功耗，成本大大降低，并且表现出与其表面声波(SAW)过滤器竞争对手相同或更好的性能。这些中频滤波器和谐振器的潜在市场包括通信、航空航天/军事、消费电子、汽车和工业部门。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I research aims to investigate the feasibility of producing miniaturized, multi-frequency, single-chip filters from 10 MHz to 500 MHz using aluminum nitride (AlN) micromachined-electromechanical-system (MEMS) piezoelectric resonators. The resonators for this work have their fundamental frequency set by lithographically defined features. This enables the design of arrays of multi-frequency filters directly at the Computer-Aided Design (CAD) layout level, without the need for any extra etching or deposition steps. Lithographic frequency definition also desensitizes this resonator to variations in film uniformity, which promises significant yield and cost advantages. In comparison to legacy Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) and dielectric filters, these filters exhibit higher performance and are processed on silicon substrates, which will ultimately provide advantages in cost and form factor. It is anticipated the results of this research project will demonstrate the AlN contour filters can surpass the demanding specifications required of commercial IF filters.The IF filter solutions proposed here offer up to several orders of magnitude reduction in size and weight, enabling lower power consumption via reduced filter insertion loss, costing substantially less, and exhibiting equal or better performance than their surface acoustic wave (SAW) filter competitors. The addressable market for these IF filters and resonators includes the communications, aerospace / military, consumer electronics, automotive, and industrial sectors.