Functional Integrated Phononic Crystal Structures for Wireless Applications

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。本研究的目标是使用声子晶体开发功能集成无线结构。为了实现这一目标，计划在声子晶体中进行理论和实验相结合的努力，包括以下高级研究任务：1）开发低损耗、高质量的基础元器件（波导和腔）在PC板与全色散和模式工程的可能性，2）开发用于PC波导和腔中的色散工程的系统方法，并将这些器件组合以形成功能集成的无线结构，以及3）开发用于制造在最先进的无线频率范围内操作的PC结构的最佳过程。声子晶体结构具有作为用于无线系统的片上信号调节和处理的变革技术的前景。这项技术可以为超紧凑型单芯片光谱分析仪等新系统铺平道路。它还具有创建自适应滤波器的前景，用于为不同的协议以及不同的频带重新配置无线电。这将为某种程度上类似于微处理器的灵活无线电奠定基础。此外，所提出的声子晶体结构可以用于声波的几种应用中（例如，生物和化学传感）。这项研究为社会提供了重要的教育效益。两个博士将在一个多学科环境中对2000名大学生和几名本科生（特别是通过暑期工程/科学本科生研究（SURE）方案获得代表性不足的少数民族学生）进行培训。它还为一名高中生和一名高中教师提供暑期研究。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).The objective of this research is to develop functional integrated wireless structures using phononic crystals. To achieve this goal, a combined theoretical and experimental effort in phononic crystals including the following high-level research tasks is planned: 1) the development of low-loss, high quality fundamental components (waveguides and cavities) in PC slabs with the possibility of full dispersion and mode engineering, 2) the development of a systematic method for dispersion engineering in PC waveguides and cavities and combining these devices to form functional integrated wireless structures, and 3) the development of an optimum procedure for fabricating PC structures for operation in the state-of-the-art wireless frequency range.Phononic crystal structures have the prospect of being a transformational technology for on-chip signal conditioning and processing for wireless systems. This technology could pave the way towards new systems such as ultra-compact single-chip spectral analyzers. It also has the prospect of creating adaptive filters for reconfiguring the radio for different protocols as well as different bands. This would lay the foundation for flexible radio which would be somewhat analogous to the microprocessor. In addition, the proposed phononic crystal structures can be employed in several applications of acoustic waves (e.g., biological and chemical sensing). The proposed research provides significant educational benefits for the society. Two Ph.D. students and several undergraduate students (especially underrepresented minority students through the summer undergraduate research in engineering/science (SURE) program) will be trained in a multi-disciplinary environment. It also provides summer research for one high school student and one high school teacher.