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C3 (Air) C4 Air)
INTRODUCTION C1 (Si3N4) C2 (Si3N4) C1 (Si3N4) C2 (Si3N4)
Wideband and low-noise VCOs (Voltage Controlled
RF IN RF OUT RF IN RF OUT
Oscillators) have industrial impact to realize multi-band
transceiver units for mobile phones, where MEMS (b) (c)
varactors of high-Q have found a potential market [1-6]. Dielectric (Parylene-C)
978-1-4673-5655-8/13/$31.00 2013 IEEE 737 MEMS 2013, Taipei, Taiwan, January 20 24, 2013
different materials (sputtered Si3N4, SiO2, and Al2O3); the isolation hinge. (d) Finally, the sacrificial copper and the
S-parameters were measured by using the Agilent 8510C chromium are selectively removed by wet etching to
VNA (Vector Network Analyzer) to extract the value of release the suspended structure.
tan by parameter fitting based on the ADS simulation Photo Resist
model. Table 1 compares the tan values of three materials. Au
Due to the smallest loss, we have chosen the sputtered
Si3N4 as a capacitor dielectric. Theoretical calculation (a) Pyrex Glass
based on these experiments predicted a high Q value of 108
so long as the ON-state capacitance is smaller than 6 pF at Au
1 GHz. We used the standard parallel-plate model for the Si3N4
electrostatic operation and estimated maximum drive
voltage of 20 V for the bridge structure of 1-m-thick (b)
plated gold of 480-m-long span suspended over the air
gap of 2 m clearance. Au
Cu
Table 1: Experimentally measured and extracted
(Sacrificial Layer)
parameters of dielectric materials.
Material Sputter Gas tan (c)
Si3N4 Ar 0.006 Parylene-C
Al2O3 Ar 0.009
SiO2 Ar : O 2 = 2 : 1 0.011
(d)
MEMS-VCO Module Figure 3: Fabrication process of the MEMS varactor. (a)
Figure 2 shows the circuit schematic of the MEMS-VCO Gold plating of the bottom electrode. (b) Deposition of the
formed in the Clapp oscillator topology due to the low capacitor dielectric film (sputtered Si3N4) and gold plating
phase noise performance. Oscillation frequency is of the upper electrode. (c) Plating of the sacrificial layer
controlled by tuning the drive voltage applied to the (copper) and the movable electrode (gold). (d) Deposition
MEMS varactor (shown as C_MEMS) used in the LC-tank. and patterning of Parylene-C and removal of the
Oscillation frequency in the 800 MHz band was chosen as sacrificial layer by wet-etching.
in this feasibility study towards mobile phone application.
Vcc
2mm
L2 2mm
R2
C4 C1
C5
R1 Out
D1 C2 R3 C3
L1
(a)
C_MEMS
Figure 2: Circuit schematic of MEMS-VCO
482um
FABRICATION
Figure 3 shows the fabrication process of the MEMS 99um
varactor on a 700-m-thick Pyrex substrate. (a) First, a
seed layer (20-nm-Cr and 50-nm-Au) is sputtered and RF IN
patterned to define the bottom electrode, whose thickness
RF OUT
is increased by additional electroplating of a 2-m-thick
gold. (b) Next, a 220-nm-thick sputtered Si3N4 is deposited,
(b)
followed by the sputtering of 20-nm-Cr and 50-nm-Au
Figure 4: SEM images of the MEMS varactor. (a) 1-bit
seed layer and the electroplating of a 1-m-thick gold,
MEMS varactor on a 700-m-thick Pyrex glass substrate
where a pair of MIM capacitor is formed. (c) Sacrificial
(chip size of 2 mm x 2 mm). (b) Close-up view of a 2-bit-
seed layers of 20-nm-Cr and 100-nm-Cu are sputtered on
MEMS varactor.
the substrate, and a 2-m-thick Cu is plated as a sacrificial
layer. The structural layer of the MEMS varactor is formed
The SEM pictures of the fabricated devices (2 mm x 2 mm)
by first sputtering a barrier 20-nm-Cr and a seed 50-nm-Au
are shown in Figure 4. We have developed a 1-bit varactor
with additional 1-m-thick electroplated gold. A
with a single actuator bridge (Figure 4(a)) and a 2-bit type
1-m-thick Parylene-C was deposited by LPCVD on the
with two parallel bridges suspended over a pair of common
structural gold and patterned by the O2 RIE to form an
input and output RF lines (Figure 4(b)).
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EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
A 1-port device in Figure 4(a) has been tested to obtain
Voltage
S11-parameters by using the VNA from 0.1 to 5 GHz in
26 V
both ON- and OFF-states, as shown in Figure 5.
Electrostatic drive voltage of 35 Vdc was used to turn on
the varactor. Down-state
Displacement
90 %
1.2 m
UP-state 10 %
S(1,1)
S(1,1)
77 s 28 s
Im( Z in )
Q= , (5)
Re( Z in )
Table 2: Electrical properties of the MEMS varactor at 1 Silver paste Gold wire
4mm
GHz.
C_off C_on Rs
Q Alumina substrate
(pF) (pF) () Evaluation Board
Designed 0.01 0.89 1.19 160
Measured 0.13 0.86 3.10 60 (b)
Figure 7: SEM and optical microscope images of
The switching speed of the developed device was packaged device. (a) A chip after die-bonding onto an
measured by using the LDV (Laser Doppler Vibrometer). alumina substrate and gold wire-bonding. (b) A chip after
Figure 6 shows the transient behavior measured with a 26 hermetic cap and surface assembly onto an evaluation
V square wave voltage at 3.7 kHz, indicating OFF-to-ON circuit board.
(up-to-down) and ON-to-OFF (down-to-up) responses of
77 s and 28s, respectively.
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0.80
bit1=35V, bit2=35V
0.75
Capacitance (pF)
10.00 kHz
bit1=0V, bit2=35V -101.1 dBc/Hz
0.70
0.60
bit1=0V, bit2=0V
0.55
0.50
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0
Frequency (GHz) Figure 11: Measured phase noise of a 1-bit MEMS-VCO
Figure 8: Experimentally measured frequency response of (ON-state). Phase noise of -101 dBc/Hz has been defined
a packaged 2-bit-MEMS varactor. by the power at a 10 kHz offset from the peak 776 MHz.
REFERENCES
[1] G. M. Rebeiz, RF MEMS Theory, Design, and
Technology, John Wiley and Sons, 2003.
[2] A. Grichener, B. Lakshminarayanan, and G. M.
Figure 9: A MEMS-VCO with a 2-bit MEMS varactor on Rebeiz, High-Q RF MEMS capacitor with
a PWB (40 mm x 35 mm). digital/analog tuning capabilities, 2008 IEEE MTT-S
Int. Microwave Symp. Dig., pp. 1283-1286.
Output Power (dBm)
740