RF MEMS and NEMS Technology, Devices,

and Applications
Peter Gammel, Georg Fischer, and Jrmie Bouchaud

Will RF MEMS deliver on its promise to be one of the major MEMS businesses
in the future? RF MEMS has now entered its second generation; high-volume
production of both contacting and non-contacting switches and lters
(based on bulk acoustic waves) was ramped up worldwide starting in 2003.
In rst-generation RF MEMS, discrete components were developed to
demonstrate RF performance and reliability, and low-cost, high-volume chip-
and wafer-scale packaging eliminated the nal barriers to high-volume
production of discrete replacement components with MEMS. In this
paper, we review the RF MEMS industry and the commercialization status
of RF MEMS components. We also provide a detailed case study of
mobile telephone basestations, demonstrating how RF MEMS can impact
telecommunications. Finally, we look at research into third-generation RF
MEMS and NEMS, in which integration, active devices, and new functionality
will create opportunities for disruptive changes in RF subsystems, enabling
such things as software-dened radio. 2005 Lucent Technologies Inc.

Introduction
Radio frequency (RF) components have been
viewed as an ideal opportunity for microelectro-
mechanical systems (MEMS). One reason for this is
that high frequency and especially high power RF
products are still based on discrete components and
selected based on performance and MEMS have al-
ready demonstrated superior performance in a num-
ber of critical device metrics. Moreover, these products
often use hermetic or quasi-hermetic packaging and
chip and wire assembly, as do MEMS components. As
reliability and manufacturing yield for MEMS become
more stable, it is expected that MEMS will play an
important role in these products.
Another reason is that the need to reduce cost
and footprint for high-volume, lower-frequency RF
products (e.g., those used in mobile phones) has
paved the way for RF MEMS-based modules and in-
tegration. The introduction of bulk acoustic wave
(BAW) RF MEMS lters by Agilent and Skyworks is
the rst step along this path. RF MEMS are actively
being evaluated for switch functions in mobile tele-
phones. As foundry and electronic design and au-
tomation (EDA) services for MEMS become available,
RF MEMS integration in radio frequency integrated
circuits (RFICs) will become commonplace.
The RF MEMS Industry
Despite the fact that the rst RF MEMS paper was
published back in 1979 [6], the RF MEMS industry is
still very young. The interest of the Defense Advanced
Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in military radar in
the mid-1990s spurred the rst signicant RF MEMS

Bell Labs Technical Journal 10(3), 2959 (2005) 2005 Lucent Technologies Inc. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI: 10.1002/bltj.20103
 Panel 1. Abbreviations, Acronyms, and Terms
3GThird generation
4GFourth generation
BAWBulk acoustic wave
BMBFGerman Federal Ministry of Research and
Education
CDMACode division multiple access
DARPADefense Advanced Research Projects
Agency
DCDirect current
DMBDigital Multipoint Bridge
DoDDepartment of Defense
DVBDigital Video Broadcasting Group
EDAElectronic design and automation
FBARFilm bulk acoustic resonator
FETField-effect transistor
GPRSGeneral Packet Radio Service
GSM*Global System for Mobile
Communications*
HDDHard disk drive
ICIntegrated circuit
LANLocal area network
LCInductor-capacitor lter
LEDLight-emitting diode
LIGALithography, electroforming, and molding
LNALow noise amplier
LOLocal oscillator
LTCCLow temperature co-red ceramic
research and development (R&D) effort, and it was
2001 before the rst high-volume RF MEMS compo-
nent, a lter based on bulk acoustic wave technology,
was commercialized by Agilent. A signicant number
of components and circuits have since been demon-
strated and now, in 2005, around 60 companies are
developing RF MEMS components, a dozen of which
have now entered the commercialization phase.
Examples of RF MEMS devices are microswitches,
tunable capacitors, micromachined inductors, micro-
machined antennas, microtransmission lines, and res-
onators, including micromechanical resonators, BAW
resonators, and cavity resonators. RF MEMS are man-
ufactured using conventional 3D structuring tech-
nologies, such as bulk micromachining, surface
micromachining, fusion bonding, and lithography,
electroforming, and molding (LIGA). The materials
used include Si, GaAs, SiC, and SOI substrates.
30 Bell Labs Technical Journal
MEMSMicroelectromechanical systems
MP3Moving Picture Experts Group layer 3
MVNOMultiple virtual network operator
NEMSNanoelectromechanical systems
NFCNear-Field Communication
OMTOperations and maintenance terminal
PAPower amplier
PANPrivate area network
PCBPrinted circuit board
PCSPersonal Communications Service
PINPhoto intrinsic diode
R&DResearch and development
RFRadio frequency
RFBRadio function block
RFICRF integrated circuit
RMSRecongurable Mobile Systems
RTLRegister transfer language
SAWSurface acoustic wave
SDARSSatellite Digital Audio Radio Services
SMRSolidly mounted resonator
SP4TSingle-pole four-throw switch
SP7TSingle-pole seven-throw switch
SPSTSingle-pole single-throw switch
T/RTransmit/receive
USBUniversal Serial Bus
W-CDMAWideband CDMA
WiFiWireless Fidelity
Figure 1 shows the various RF MEMS components
and their respective operative frequency ranges.
In addition to their potential for integration and
miniaturization, RF MEMS offer lower power con-
sumption, lower losses, higher linearity, and higher
Q factors than conventional communications compo-
nents. RF MEMS also enable new architectures for
future generations of telecommunication systems,
which will be easily and rapidly recongurable and
will operate over a wide frequency range.
Worldwide, more than 120 industrial and re-
search organizations are currently working on RF
MEMS. Figure 2 shows the structure of the RF
MEMS industry and lists some of the participants in it.
We have included MEMS start-ups, integrated circuit
(IC) manufacturers, manufacturers of passive RF de-
vices, and integrators that develop RF MEMS for their
own specic needs.
 Frequency in GHz

0 1 2 5 10 20 40 60 80 100
-mechanical
resonators

MEMS
inductors

BAW
resonators

MEMS
switches

Tunable
capacitors

Micro-mach.
antennas

Cavity
resonators

Transmission
lines

Optimum operative frequency range Efforts to increase frequency range

BAWBulk acoustic wave

MEMSMicroelectromechanical systems

Figure 1.
RF MEMS components and their operative frequency range.

RF MEMS start-up companies play a major role in
the commercialization of RF MEMS, because they are,
in most cases, the rst companies to put products on
the market. The start-ups Magfusion, Teravicta, and
Radant have been shipping commercial RF MEMS
switches; Sophia Wireless will start shipping cavity
resonators this year. One reason for the success of
these companies is that they now receive more fund-
ing from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) than
the traditional large pioneers, such as Rockwell and
Raytheon.
Although RF MEMS is a young industry, the RF
MEMS supply chain is already undergoing restruc-
turing. Start-ups involved in RF MEMS development
(such as PHS MEMS) have gone bankrupt. The group
of companies that can be characterized as integrators
with their own RF MEMS development is evolving
fast. On the one hand, automotive electronics com-
panies (e.g., Robert Bosch and TRW) and U.S. defense
system companies (e.g., Raytheon) are either invest-
ing less in or stopping the development of their own
RF MEMS technologies, preferring to wait for com-
mercial products to become available. On the other
hand, European defense system companies (e.g.,
Thales and BAE) have limited or no access to RF
MEMS technologies developed by American start-ups
funded by DARPA. As a result, they must continue
their own development efforts. EADS even started its
own RF MEMS switch program in 2003.
As Figure 3 shows, developments in RF MEMS
have not been equally funded. North America in par-
ticular is choosing to nance RF MEMS developments
for military use. The DoD has devoted a lot of atten-
tion and funding to the development of RF MEMS

Bell Labs Technical Journal 31

 National and International Bodies
DARPA (USA), 5th and 6th European FP, ESA, National Asian programs in J, ROK, Sing.

RF MEMS manufacturers
Academic R&D
RF-MEMS Start-ups Integrators with own
Radant (USA) Large IC and MEMS MEMS development Integrators
Xcom (USA) Manufacturers & users
Michigan Uni (USA) Defense & aerospace
Magfusion (USA) Agilent (USA)
Purdue (USA) Intel (USA) Raytheon, Rockwell,
Teravicta (USA) Northrop Grum. (USA)
GiorgiaTec (USA) IBM (USA)
Discera (USA) Thales (F), BAE (UK), Wireless telecom
VTT (FIN) Motorola Labs (USA)
Wispry (USA) Raphael (Il), EADS (D) terminals and
IMEC (B) FreeScale (USA)
Siverta (USA) Infrastructure
CEA LETI (F) Infineon (D) Automotive
SiTime (USA)
LAAS (F) STMicroelectronics (F) Bosch (D) Automotive
SiliconClocks (USA)
Tokyo Uni. (J) Philips (NL)
KAIST (ROK) Samsung (ROK) Space & Defence
MEMS Start-ups
GPSC (Sgp.) NEC (J) RF devices manuf.
ITRI (TW)... MEMSCAP (F/USA)
MEMX (USA) LG (ROK) Fujitsu (J), Matsuchita (J)
Protron (D) Epcos (D), Murata (J)
MEMS Solution (ROK)

Services

MEMS CAD & IP MEMS Foundries RF CAD & EDA

RF + semicon.
Coventor (USA) Tronics (F) MEMS Packaging APLAC (FIN)
foundries
SoftMEMS (F) DALSA (CND) Shellcase (IL) Modelithicss (USA)
Jazz (USA)
IntelliSenseSoft (USA) IMT (USA) Hymite (DK) Sonnet (USA)
Peregrine (USA)
APM (Tw) Agilent (USA) ...

Figure 2.
Structure of the RF MEMS industry.

components since the mid-1990s. Up until the begin-

50
ning of 2000, the focus both within the DoD and in
Space the industry was on the development of components
40 Military like switches and tunable capacitors for tunable l-
Commercial ters and phase shifters. Now the focus has shifted to
US$ million

30 improving the reliability of and packaging techniques

for RF MEMS as part of the RF MEMS improvement
20
program (on which $25 million has been spent be-
10 tween 2003 and 2005) and the Harsh Environment
Robust Micromechanical Technology (HERMIT) pro-
0 gram (on which $21 million has been spent over the
EU USA Asia
same period).
Figure 3. The level of funding is lower in Europe and Asia.
Estimated public funding for RF MEMS in 2004. In Europe, public funding only began in 1999 and

32 Bell Labs Technical Journal

commercial applications still dominate funding there.
This is due to the strong position of European cell
phone companies (e.g., Nokia, Siemens, and Sony-
Ericsson) and also to the major role played by the
European Commission (which focuses on commer-
cial applications) in MEMS funding. Space applica-
tions in Europe also benet from funding from the
European Space Agency, which is currently nanc-
ing eight RF MEMS-related projects, and from the na-
tional space agencies (e.g., CNES in France and ASI in
Italy).
Similarly, funding in Asian markets goes mainly
to commercial applications. However, it is difcult to
estimate the amount of funding dedicated to RF
MEMS development, because, in Asia, RF MEMS pro-
grams are also part of both electronics and nanotech-
nology initiatives. It is interesting to note the high
level of public funding in Korea, which has set up
generous, ve-year programs targeting cell phone ap-
plications. The rapid and spectacular developments at
LG Electronics and Samsung in the last three years
are related to this national investment.
The status of the commercialization of RF MEMS
depends largely on reliability and packaging [1]. BAW
devices, including film bulk acoustic resonators
(FBARs) and solidly mounted resonators (SMRs), are
the most mature components. Agilent started com-
mercialization of its duplexer component in 2001,
Inneon brought its SMR lters to market the next
year, and two new players (i.e., Fujitsu and Asian
Pacific Manufacturing [APM]) have just launched
new products as of the end of 2004 (Figure 4).
Despite the considerable academic and industrial
research efforts over the last decade (Figure 5), only
three companies have started to commercialize RF
MEMS switches for high-value applications (Figure 6);

Agilent (US)
BAW resonators Infineon (D)
(FBAR & SMR) Fujitsu (J)
APM (Tw)

LG (ROK)
Samsung (ROK) (estimated)
MEMS Solution (ROK)

Switches Panasonic (J)

Fujitsu (J)
IBM?
Intel? Wispry (US)

Siverta (US)

Philips (NL)
Tunable Fujitsu (J)
capacitors
MEMX (US) (estimated)

-mechanical Discera (US)

resonators
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

Demonstrator Sampling Pre-serie Serial prod.

BAWBulk acoustic wave

FBARFilm bulk acoustic resonator
SMRSolidly mounted resonator

Figure 4.
Commercialization plans of RF MEMS manufacturers for volume applications.

Bell Labs Technical Journal 33

 45
Industrial Academic
40

35

30

25

20

15

10

0
Switch Tunable Cavity
mechanical BAW Inductor Tunable Antenna Transmission
capacitor resonator res. inductor lines

Figure 5.
RF MEMS program by device type.

Switches
Magfusion (USA)
High end
commercial Teravicta (USA)
applications
(DC-9 GHz) Matsushita EW (J) (estimated)

Radant (USA)

XCOM (USA)
Military & MEMTronics (USA) (estimated)
space
+ high end
commercial COM DEV (CND)
DC-86 GHz
TeraOp (IL)

BAE System (UK)

MEMSCAP

Tunable XCOM (USA)

capacitors
TeraOp(IL)

Cavity Sophia Wireless (USA)

resonators

2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

Demonstrator Sampling Pre-serie Serial prod.

Figure 6.
Commercialization plan of RF MEMS manufacturers for high-value applications.

34 Bell Labs Technical Journal

these companies are Magfusion, Teravicta, and Radant.
Reliability and packaging remain critical issues; the rst
commercial devices for volume applications such as
mobile telephone band and antenna switches are
expected around 2006 or 2007.
Reliability issues are less acute for tunable capac-
itors, because they do not suffer contact and friction
problems in the same way as switches. However, they
do not benet from the same level of R&D effort as
switches and, with the exception of X-COM wireless
for phase shifters applications, few companies seem
close to commercialization.
Great progress has been made on micromechan-
ical resonators, especially at Discera. Sample products
were made available this year and serial production of
reference oscillators or timing devices in the KHz and
MHz frequency ranges should begin next year.
Commercial devices that resonate in the GHz range
and are designed to replace surface acoustic wave
(SAW) lters are not expected before 2008.
New third-generation (3G) and fourth-generation
(4G) multimode and multiband cell phones will ex-
perience the convergence of various RF communica-
tion protocols [2]:
Cellular standards, such as Global System for
Mobile Communications (GSM), General Packet
Radio Service (GPRS), and Wideband Code
Division Multiple Access (W-CDMA);
Local area network (LAN) and private area net-
work (PAN) standards, such as Bluetooth, WiFi,
Universal Serial Bus (USB), ZigBee, and Near-
Field Communication (NFC); and
Broadcast standards, such as radio standards (e.g.,
Satellite Digital Audio Radio Services [SDARS])
and TV standards (e.g., Digital Video Broadcasting
Group [DVB]-H and Digital Multipoint Bridge
[DMB]-X), when the handset is only used for
receiving information.
RF MEMS is a promising technology for cell phones
that will demand recongurability and tunability as
part of multiband and multistandard operation; it is
competitive in power consumption, size, and price.
The following RF MEMS components are being
developed to meet future handset requirements
for low power consumption, reconfiguration, and
integration:
BAW lters,
RF MEMS switches,
Tunable capacitors and inductors,
Micromechanical resonators, and
Tunable antenna modules.
BAW devices have already established themselves
in cell phones. The FBAR duplexer from Agilent can
be found in nearly 60 mobile-phone platforms and, by
January 2005, it had already captured more than 70%
of the CDMA phone market.
The major potential application for BAW devices
in mobile phones is the use of BAW resonators as a
replacement for the traditional duplexer in order to
reduce the size of the handset. (Duplexers are a part
of CDMA standards today and they should also used
in the forthcoming 3G handsets.) BAW resonators
could also be used for building bandpass lters, thus
replacing the three SAW filters that are currently
incorporated in mobile phones. BAW resonators per-
form better than SAW filters at frequencies higher
than 1.5 GHz and are suitable for replacing SAW lters
in 3G mobile phones. BAW resonators also perform
better in terms of insertion loss and power handling
than SAW lters, particularly above 1.5 GHz, an ad-
vantage that is very important for duplexer functions.
The main advantage of BAW resonators for mo-
bile phones is their small size; a BAW component is
80% to 90% smaller than currently available ceramic
duplexers. However, BAW technology is less advan-
tageous for the 900 MHz band, because significant
size reductions cannot be achieved at that frequency.
A potential disruptive advantage of BAW res-
onators is that they can be easily integrated, because
the material used in BAW resonators is compatible
with silicon process technology. Agilent took advantage
of this to design a full-band lter. Traditionally, two
SAW lters are needed to cover the 18501880 MHz
and 18801910 MHz portions of the Personal
Communications Service (PCS) transmit frequency
range. Agilents FBAR module eliminates the second
lter as well as a radio-frequency switch and associated
passive components. This space-saving reduces the
printed circuit board area required for the transmit
lter by up to 90%, while lowering manufacturing
costs and eliminating the need for interface design and
programming.
Bell Labs Technical Journal 35
 Band, antenna, and lter switching in cell phones
will probably be the rst applications for RF MEMS
switches, because future wireless receivers will have
to operate at several bands covering a wide range of
frequencies encompassing 900 MHz to 5 GHz. The
main motivation for employing RF MEMS switches
is the low insertion loss exhibited by MEMS devices
compared to semiconductor switches; losses as small
as 0.1 dB are signicant in switches.
The key drivers for the use of RF MEMS switches
in cell phones are [3]:
Good isolation (i.e., 30 dB at 2 GHz),
Low insertion loss (i.e., 0.3 dB at 2 GHz), and
The ability to isolate the switch control signal
from the RF signal.
Possible applications for RF MEMS switches in
mobile telephony include the following:
Antenna switching,
Transmit/receive (T/R) switching,
Band switching,
Filter switching,
Power amplier switching, and
Matching impedance networks.
For band switching, current MEMS switches pro-
vide both the speed and the number of switching
cycles required. The cost advantage of RF MEMS
switches becomes greater as the number of bands in-
creases, and it is expected that single-pole four-throw
(SP4T) to single-pole seven-throw (SP7T) MEMS
switches for band-switching applications in cell
phones will appear in the market by 2006.
RF MEMS switches are also currently being de-
veloped for agile lter banks that will handle the in-
creasing interference of a multiband receiver. With
conventional RF filter technologies, the receiver
would be bulky, exhibit high power consumption, and
be very expensive. In comparison, a lter bank com-
bining BAW-lter and MEMS-switching technology
would be small and agile, exhibit a high dynamic
range, and meet price-point targets. Such modules
are expected on the market in 2007.
MEMS switches are also under development for
integration into power amplier (PA) modules. The
main motivation for this development is the desire to
increase the linearity and efficiency of the PA.
36 Bell Labs Technical Journal
However, the power-handling characteristics of
MEMS devices are still limited.
MEMS switches have also been given a lot of con-
sideration as potential components for building
impedance-matching networks. At the output of the
low-noise amplier (LNA), these components can en-
able considerable power savings. At the system level,
they also obviate the need for a DC/DC regulator,
which is normally required to optimize the output of
the PA. A matching network that incorporates MEMS
devices could be implemented after 2007.
Antenna switching is a natural target application
for a replacement for RF semiconductor switches. In
particular, an RF MEMS switch can eliminate many of
the drawbacks associated with semiconductor
switches [7]. To date, only a few phones feature sev-
eral antennas, but as multiband wireless equipment
capable of handling multiple wavebands and wireless
protocols becomes more common, demand for an-
tenna switching will soar [6].
RF MEMS switches can also be considered as
replacements for eld-effect transistor (FET) T/R
switches. MEMS switches greatly reduce power
wastage in the transmit mode; for example, a MEMS
switch operating at a desired output power of 500 mW
could cut wasted power by as much as 280 mW [4].
However, the use of RF MEMS switches in this appli-
cation is still very challenging because of the switching
time (typically 1 to 5 ms) and the number of switching
cycles (typically 10 to 100 billion) required.
Other RF MEMS devices that are under investi-
gation for use in cell phones are:
Micromechanical resonators, and
Tunable capacitors and inductors.
Micromechanical resonators are attracting con-
siderable interest as replacements for crystal oscillators
that are used as frequency-reference or time-source
devices in the KHz and MHz ranges. Compared to the
crystals currently in use, such resonators offer ad-
vantages in terms of price, size reduction, and better
integration with silicon. They also make possible
miniaturization, e.g., RF-system-in-package (RF-SiP)
and, ultimately, single-chip radios.
Microresonators should start to replace crystal os-
cillators in cell phones in 2006. In the long term, their
operative frequency could be increased to include the
GHz range, which would allow them to ll the tech-
nology space currently occupied by SAW filters.
Higher-frequency operation would also make possible
new ltering and mixing functions and completely
new architectures. Nguyen et. al. have envisaged their
use in dynamic channel-select radios [5].
Tunable capacitors could find application in
impedance-matching networks, replacing switched
capacitors [2], or they could enable tunable voltage-
controlled oscillators. The advantage of MEMS de-
vices in this capacity is a high linearity and zero
quiescent power consumption compared to hyper-
abrupt junction varactors. However, because a large
area is currently required for RF MEMS varactors, the
industry (with the exception of Philips and MEMX) is
considerably less interested in developing MEMS var-
actors than it is in developing MEMS switches.
Consequently, the authors do not expect MEMS tun-
able capacitors to be found in cell phones before 2009.
When considering uses for MEMS in cellular
handsets, one initially thinks of RF MEMS for the RF
Worldwide HDD-enabled mobile phone forecast
15 Converged mobile devices
10
Shipments (M)
0
2003 2004 2005
HDDHard disk drive
Figure 7.
Hard disk drive shipments into mobile devices.
communication functions. However, the applications
of MEMS are wider, and can be categorized into four
main areas [3]:
Enhanced, miniaturized RF implementations (i.e.,
RF MEMS),
Power/energy generation and management,
Novel mass memory, and
Sensors and actuators for adding new functional-
ity (e.g., microphones, microphone arrays, and
optical MEMS).
MEMS are already in production for mobile
phones for use as accelerometers in two applications.
The rst is for hard disk drive (HDD) protection in
mobile phones that integrate an HDD for enhanced
storage of pictures, video, and MP3 files. Figure 7
shows the attach rate of HDDs in mobile phones.
Compared to accelerometers for HDDs in laptops,
accelerometers for mobile devices will need a much
larger range (up to 1000 Gs on shock), while retaining
a 1 to 2 ms response time. Some existing and targeted
specications for HDD accelerometers in small form fac-
tor disk drives for mobile devices are shown in Table I.
Other mobile phones
2006 2007 2008
Bell Labs Technical Journal 37
38
Table I. Specications for small-form-factor hard disk drives.

Bell Labs Technical Journal

Comparison of existing and targeted specications
Toshiba Toshiba
Hitachi 1.8 in. Hitachi 0.85 in.
Hitachi 1.8 in. Toshiba (Perp. Hitachi 1.0 in. Toshiba (Perp.
Metric 1.8 in. Slim 1.8 in. record.) 1.0 in. Mikey 0.85 in. record.)
Size 30 3040 30 40 4 810 4 8
(GB)
Heads 2 Pico 2 Femto 2 Femto 2 Femto 2 Femto 2 Femto 2 Femto 2 Femto
(GMR)
Footprint 54  71  7 54  71  5 54  78.5  5 54  78.5  5 42.8  36.4  5 30  40  5 24  32  3.3 NA
(mm)
Weight 47 NA 50 NA 16 14 10 NA
(gf)
Power 0.08W (10%20%) 0.005W/GB NA NA (40%) NA NA
(standby) (PWM) (efciency) (PWM)
Shock 500 G, 2 ms (10%20%) 500 G, 2 ms NA 200 G, 2 ms (100%) 1,000 G, NA
(op) 2 ms
Shock 1200 G, NA 1500 G NA 2000 G, 1 ms NA NA NA
(non-op) 1 ms 1 ms

GMRGiant magneto resistance Femto head, but Toshiba refers to it as a modied GMR
PWMPulse-width modulation head for perpendicular recording
Source: IDC, 2005
NA  Not available or not announced
 The second application for MEMS accelerometers
is biometrics, such as gaming, menu control and
security. Menu control has been demonstrated by
Samsung Electronics, which recently announced the
worlds first 3D movement recognition mobile
phone, the SCH-S310. Samsungs accelerometer is
built into the phone to calculate movement in three-
dimensional space. Using its three-dimensional spacial
recognition system, the SCH-S310 allows users to
write or draw symbols in the air to issue commands.
For example, swiping the phone to the right while an
MP3 is playing can cause it to skip to the next track,
while swiping it to the left will cause it to go back a
track. Drawing a number in the air dials that number
and shaking the phone ends a call. It is also expected
that MEMS devices for image stabilization will be
critical for cell phone video cameras.
Nokia has identied the following key technolo-
gies that can create added value in mobile telephones:
Components and microsystems for adaptive
power management, including integrated 3D
power coils and transformers, microrelays, micro-
mechanical resonators with high Q-value, and
active cooling elements.
Power generation, including microturbines, micro-
generators, microengines, hydrogen- or methanol-
based micro fuel cells, and polymer batteries. (NTT
Docomo has announced that a prototype of a 3G
cell phone powered by a micro fuel cell will be
available by the end of 2005.)
Nonvolatile embedded memory technologies, in-
cluding micromachined read/write of atomic reso-
lution memories. (The recent joint announcement
by LSI Logic and Nantero of the use of actuated
carbon nanotubes for high-density nonvolatile
memory is a step in this direction.)
Micromechanical sensors and actuators for user
interfaces, including accelerometers, tilt sensors,
gyroscopes, pressure sensors, and magnetome-
ters. Figure 8 illustrates the MEMS sensors cur-
rently implemented in commercial cell phones
and those that are expected to be implemented

Power & energy Micro fuel cell, NTT DoCoMo

management demo end 2005 in 3G cell phone

MOEMS, micro projection

system (FhG IPMS)

Gas sensors, (Siemens)

ozone, pollen, weather
Gyroscope, intuitive menu scrolling, GPS
Sensors &
actuators Pressure sensor 09/04, Siemens, express emotions

Microphone (Knowles), End 2003 Neonode

Accelerometer (ADI),
09/03 NTT DoCoMo: podometer, 06/04 Mitsubishi: auto picture
rotation, 09/04 Siemens: EMOTI, end 04: Nokia, Gaming

RF MEMS switch (PA, band, filter)

Micro-resonator (time source, filtering)
Enhanced and
RF MEMS
miniaturized RF
FBAR duplexer (Agilent)
2001 Samsung Phone

2002 2004 2006 2008 2010

RFRadio frequency

Figure 8.
MEMS in mobile terminals.

Bell Labs Technical Journal 39

 in them in the next few years. To date, ac-
celerometers are the most widely implemented
MEMS sensors.
Cameras and displays, including micromirrors,
microlenses, scanners, and projection displays.
(Fraunhofer IPMS and Fraunhofer ISIT are work-
ing on micromirror-based miniature projection
displays that could be integrated in cell phones
by 2009.)
Components for speech and voice, including mi-
cromechanical silicon microphones, microphone
arrays, microspeakers, and vibration suppression
systems. (MEMS microphones for cell phones are
already in mass production at Knowles Acoustics.
The Emkay Sisonic MEMS microphone was re-
cently selected by Neotode for a multifunction
portable device incorporating a cellular telephone,
MP3 music player, digital camera, organizer, and
portable game console.)
RF MEMS devices have made possible signicant
progress in enhancing the performance and func-
tionality of the wireless infrastructure. Table II shows
typical combinations of standards and frequency
bands in use today. It can be seen that there are more
variants of the frequency band of operation than there
are of the standard (i.e., the air interface protocol).
A Case Study of Mobile Telephone Basestations
There is a strong desire to have a unied base-
station platform that can be recongured to address all
the combinations indicated in Table II as well as any
that may arise in the future. Within such a unied
platform, the different frequency bands would make
it necessary to recongure the RF units of the bases-
tation. In order to alter the standard (i.e., the air in-
terface protocol), a change of the baseband algorithms
would be necessary. In other words, multiband capa-
bility requires recongurable RF units, while multi-
standard capability requires a recongurable baseband
unit. In the following discussion, the combination of
a band and a standard is called a mode; therefore, a
basestation that supports multiple bands but only one
standard may be called multimode.
The RF system of a basestation (Figure 9) typi-
cally consists of the radio subsystem, which comprises
40 Bell Labs Technical Journal
the receiver and transmitter and deals only with low-
power RF signals, the RF power amplier, the duplex
lter, and the antenna. A exibility that allows oper-
ation in different frequency bands is called frequency
agility; the RF system as a whole may be called a
frequency agile RF system if all the RF units are
frequency agile.
If all RF units are frequency agile by recongura-
tion through a control interface, then it is possible to
alter the frequency band of operation remotely. In
principle, such alteration can be achieved using an
operations and maintenance terminal (OMT). Such a
capability would obviate the need to have a technician
visit a basestation site to make manual changes to the
basestation conguration. Practically speaking, fre-
quency agility may mean either that an alteration
(e.g., switching or reconfiguring an oscillator fre-
quency or bandpass lter) of certain RF properties of
the RF unit like is possible or that the RF unit is
inherently broadband.
The terms broadband and multiband differ in
meaning. Broadband means that at any moment sev-
eral frequency bands can be supported in parallel,
while multiband means that at any moment only a
single band can be supported and that recongura-
tion mechanisms are required to change to another
band. From this perspective, frequency agility implies
that an RF unit can operate in different frequency
bands, but not necessarily that it can do so in parallel
at the same time.
Several levels of reconfiguration may be envi-
sioned; from least to most agile, they are one-time
reconguration, reconguration by reboot, and re-
conguration on a per-call basis. One-time recong-
uration may be realized by soldering components of
different behavior on a unied printed circuit board.
Of course, such a procedure does not allow for a later
remote reconguration of the frequency band; such
reconfiguration would require desoldering compo-
nents and replacing them by components with
different characteristics.
Reconguration by reboot means that the basesta-
tion has to be rebooted to come up as a basestation sup-
porting another frequency band. The reboot implies
an interruption of service, but, for most scenarios, that
 Table II. Typical combinations of standards and frequency bands used in mobile communication.

Band Standard Width

3GPP2, IS95,
IS136 GSM/ CDMA2000, 3GPP Sub Chip 3GPP WLAN
AMPS TDMA GPRS/ 3G1XEV, UMTS Rate UMTS WiFi
MHz Note NMT (analog) (digital) EDGE CDMA-PAMR FDD UMTS TDD WiMAX
1.25 or 1.25
10 or 30 kHz 30 kHz 30 kHz 200 kHz 1.25 MHz 5 MHz 2.5 MHz 5 MHz 20 MHz MHz
300 Military
410 PMR/PAMR x x future ? 10
420 PMR/PAMR x future ? 10
PMR/PAMR
450 (Former C-Net) x x x future ? 7.2
480 PMR/PAMR x x x future ? 7.2
700 Former TV x x 5
alpha
700 x x 10
beta*
750 New US 15
850 Cellular x x x x x future ? 25
870 PMR/PAMR 6
900 GSM x x x future ? 35
915 PMR/PAMR x 6
1700 Korea - PCS x
1800 DCS x future ? future ? 75
1900 PCS x x x x future ? 60
2100 IMT-2000 FDD x (UWC- x x future ? 60
136)
2100 IMT-2000 TDD future ? x ? 20
2300 US WCS 15

Bell Labs Technical Journal

(continued )

41
42
Table II. Typical combinations of standards and frequency bands used in mobile communication (continued ).

Band Standard Width

3GPP2, IS95,
IS136 GSM/ CDMA2000, 3GPP Sub Chip 3GPP WLAN

Bell Labs Technical Journal

AMPS TDMA GPRS/ 3G1XEV, UMTS Rate UMTS WiFi
MHz Note NMT (analog) (digital) EDGE CDMA-PAMR FDD UMTS TDD WiMAX
1.25 or 1.25
10 or 30 kHz 30 kHz 30 kHz 200 kHz 1.25 MHz 5 MHz 2.5 MHz 5 MHz 20 MHz MHz
2400 ISM 11b/g X 80
2500 MMDS X 90
2600 New IMT2000? x x 10 MHz X 180
OFDM
3300 FWA X 100
3500 FWA X 200
5100- UNII band X 200
5400 WRC new X 255
5700 UNII band X 125

3G1XEVThird generation CDMA2000 evolution PAMRPublic Access Mobile Radio

3GPP3rd Generation Partnership Project PCSPersonal communications service
3GPP2 3rd Generation Partnership Project 2 PMRPrivate Mobile Radio
AMPSAdvanced mobile phone service TDDTime division duplex
CDMACode division multiple access TDMATime division multiple access
CDMA2000A third-generation code division multiple access technology UMTSUniversal Mobile Telecommunications System
DCSDigital crossconnect system UNIIUnlicensed National Information Infrastructure
EDGEEnhanced data for GSM evolution WCSWireless communications service
FDDFrequency division duplex WiFiWireless delity
FWAFixed wireless access WiMAXWireless Interoperability for Microwave Access, Inc.
GPRSGeneral Packet Radio Service WLANWireless local area network
GSMGlobal System for Mobile Communication* WRCWorld Radio Conference
MMDSMicrowave multipoint distribution system
CDMA2000 is a registered trademark of the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA-USA).
NMTNordic Mobile Telephone
GSM and Global System for Mobile Communication are registered trademarks of GSM Association.
OFDMOrthogonal frequency division multiplexing
 Frequency agile
RF system
(350...3500 MHz)
Frequency agile
antenna Frequency agile
power amplifier
Frequency agile
duplex filter
CDMACode division multiple access UMTSUniversal Mobile Telecommunications System
RFRadio frequency WIMAXWorldwide interoperability for microwave access
Figure 9.
Multiband/multistandard basestation.
is acceptable. Such a reboot would typically be used to
change baseband processing algorithms.
Reconguration on a per-call basis means that a
basestation can support any mode, i.e., an arbitrary
combination of band and standard for each new call
that is established. This is the highest level of recon-
guration. It is obvious that reconguration on a per-
call basis implies tremendous complexity in a
basestation, because several calls of different mode
might have to be supported in parallel. Such a level of
reconguration is only sensible for terminals, which
are typically required to handle only one call or RF
channel at a time. For a commercial basestation, this
complete agility is still considered to be unnecessarily
complex. However, in extraordinary defense and
emergency response circumstances, there is still a
need to have command center basestations with total
agility. It has been estimated that, in a natural disas-
ter, an emergency response command center might
have to coordinate as many as 700 different radios.
Reconguration by reboot is very attractive for
basestations; it allows them to support the operator
spectrum migration strategies required by operator
consolidations, license exchanges, and transitions
Standards agile
baseband
(CDMA, UMTS, WIMAX)
Frequency agile
radio
between different standard generations as well as net-
work optimization. Recongurable basestations are
valuable for real network operators that serve virtual
ones called mobile virtual network operators
(MVNOs). MVNOs may have different standard-band
strategies and may have granted different licenses. If
real operators have the exibility to adjust for arbi-
trary standard-band combinations, they can serve a
great variety of MVNOs.
The factors that make reconguration attractive
for basestations result in very infrequent alterations of
the RF settings. Such changes may occur as infre-
quently as two times a year; so they are not highly dy-
namic. Consequently, they result in a very low
number of switching cycles over the lifetime of the
components. This is advantageous in the context of
RF MEMS devices, because their reliability in terms of
switching cycles is typically limited. Moreover, be-
cause the basestation must be rebooted in order to
change band, switching time is not critical.
The benets of frequency and standard agility are
not limited to the network operator. They also offer
substantial benets to the infrastructure equipment
vendor. These benets are present even if a basestation
Bell Labs Technical Journal 43
is never recongured during its lifetime. If a unied
basestation can be commissioned for a specic cus-
tomer simply by using software commands, then there
are logistical savings. A detailed study based solely on
the radio has been performed by the Lucent
Technologies Supply Chain organization. The follow-
ing savings were identied during that study:
Development-related savings:
Simplied specication effort,
Reduced design and development effort,
One common radio board across all fre-
quency bands,
Greater economies of scale for components
and printed circuit boards (PCBs),
No development effort for variants,
Quicker reaction to newly opened frequency
bands within a deregulated spectrum regu-
latory framework,
Shorter time to market, and
Cost reduction initiatives that addressed
a greater range of products, thus having a
greater effect.
Production- and supply-chain related savings:
Fewer production setups,
Less excess material,
Common handling procedures,
Smaller component database, and
Greater production exibility, regardless of
the order.
Certication- and testing-related savings:
Faster certification for a new basestation
generation,
Common test platform, and
Reduced test and certication effort.
Documentation-related savings:
Simplied documentation, and
Faster creation of documentation.
Servicing-related savings:
Common handling procedures for repair,
Unied eld-support and maintenance, and
Service personnel trained on fewer products.
The study determined that the cost increase due
to the added complexity of recongurable radios was
on the order of 5%. On the other hand, the logistical
savings listed above can be on the order of 10% to
44 Bell Labs Technical Journal
15%. In other words, recongurability pays off, pro-
ducing a cost savings of 5% to 10% for the equip-
ment vendor. (It is important to stress that the cost
saving is always present, even if a basestation is never
reconfigured during its lifetime.) This perspective
sheds new light on the argument for implementing
recongurable radio by suggesting that the dominant
reason for doing so is the benet it provides the equip-
ment manufacturer, not the network operator. This
differs from the traditional argument for implement-
ing software radio, which uses the gain in exibility to
justify the additional complexity and costs.
Justifying recongurable radios from the users
perspective, which in the context of a basestation
means justifying them from the perspective of the
network operator, is also difcult, because an infra-
structure vendor cannot guarantee that a radio or RF
system sold today will be compatible with any future
standard-band combinations that the network opera-
tor may have to support. An operator may want to
reuse a recongurable radio or a complete recong-
urable RF system in combination with a new base-
band unit for a new air interface, but the vendor
cannot guarantee compliance to the new standards
in advance. This means that it is risky to justify im-
plementing recongurable RF systems in order to pre-
pare for the future, because future standards are not
yet dened; therefore an infrastructure vendor cannot
give a contractual guarantee that an RF system sold
today will prepare the operator for the future. This
means that the vendor cannot advertise preparation
for the future as a feature of its product. In other
words, the vendor cannot sell recongurability as a
feature that will produce revenue for the network op-
erator. Recongurability only produces revenue for
the vendor by means of logistical savings.
The case of reconfigurable RF systems is quite
similar to that of recongurable baseband solutions.
Typically, Moores Law as applied to digital signal pro-
cessing does not make it attractive to oversize base-
band processing power in order to be prepared for the
future. It is often more sensible to exchange a base-
band unit when an enhanced air interface protocol is
introduced. Once again, this case is clearly distinct
from that for software radios, in which preparation
 Multiband PA with reconfigurable matching Broadband Transmit
subharmonic Dual
SiC-MESFET/GaN- DAC filter
IQ mixer

Ferroelectric

Multiband RFB
or broadband RFB :n
Reconfigurable Reconfig prescaler 2/4/8
antenna Reconfig-
transmit filter
urable
or tunable Wide tuning
matching
postselector synthesizer UMTS:
4 Samples
Subharmonic direct mixing per chip
Multiband
15.3 MSa/s Base
duplexer
band
Wide tuning
Tunable Channel
Broadband
metamaterial Dual selection
RF-MEMS subharmonic
duplexer Gain AD filter
IQ mixer
ranging

RFB
Reconfigurable :n
Reconfig prescaler 2/4/8
receive filter
or tunable Wide tuning
preselector synthesizer

PAPower amplifier RFBRadio function block

RF-MEMSRadio frequency microelectromechanical systems UMTSUniversal Mobile Telecommunications System

Figure 10.
Architectural concept of a multiband/multistandard basestation.

for the future is considered a valuable feature because
software radio is viewed as a platform for loading new
air interface protocols.
One motivation for using radio recongurability
mentioned above was that it provides fast reaction to
changed regulatory conditions. Over time, more and
more new frequency bands are opened up for mobile
communication. Moreover, security and safety net-
works are set up in very specific frequency alloca-
tions, making the allocations of frequency bands even
more diverse. It is therefore desirable not only to
switch among the predened settings of a nite num-
ber of xed bands, but also to be able to continuously
tune the RF system solution. As Table II indicates, the
frequency range in which macrocellular networks can
be found reaches from 300 MHz to 3500 MHz, which
covers multiple octaves. A recongurable radio or RF
system that spans such a wide range may be called a
multioctave radio or multioctave RF system.
Any recongurable RF system must include only
frequency agile RF units (e.g., the radio, the PA, the
antenna, and the lters). Figure 10 shows the archi-
tecture of a frequency agile RF system and some tech-
nologies that have been proposed to facilitate
frequency agility.
RF MEMS play a key role in a frequency agile ar-
chitecture, because they enable exible lters, recon-
figurable matching networks, and widely tunable
synthesizers. At some points in the architecture the
use of RF MEMS would be desirable but is not yet
possible; for example, the reconfigurable output
matching network of the PA and the duplex lter both
demand high RF power handling. Up to 40 W average
and 200 W peak RF power are present at these nodes.

Bell Labs Technical Journal 45

Such high powers imply very high RF currents, which
is a problem for the RF MEMS components available
today; however, some research work on RF MEMS
for high power applications can be found in literature.
The RF system concept is to create a software
radio in the analog domain. Characteristics of an ana-
log signal function block are set through a digital in-
terface and can thus be controlled by software. A
digital control bus for the analog radio functions is
one way to facilitate easy handling of parameter
changes. This may require a reconguration bus that
carries information on the desired frequency band
and modulation or the required carrier frequency
Figure 12.
across various radio function blocks (RFBs). (See
RF-MEMS switch designed by Coventor.
Figure 11.) RF MEMS perfectly match the approach
of RFBs, because RF MEMS devices offer separation
between their control path and their RF signal path.
The only link between the RF signal domain and the
control domain is a mechanical cantilever. The me-
chanical structures, which do not respond to the RF
frequencies, provide both ltering and isolation.
The separation between the RF signal and control
ports also reduces the risk of crosstalk from digital sig-
nal sources to analog signals, so there is no risk of RF
signal quality degradation. There is also a higher prob-
ability of a rst time right design of a radio, reducing
the number of design iterations. Figures 12 and 13
show an RF MEMS switch that was designed by

Figure 13.
Analog/RF path RF-MEMS switch (zoom) designed by Coventor.

Analog/RF Analog/RF Coventor. An electrostatic force is used to actuate the

in RFB out
switch, in which, as is typical, the plate for actuation is
Signal processing stage
much larger than the plate for the RF contact.
This RF MEMS switch offered performance supe-
rior to that of a photo intrinsic diode (PIN) switch.
Digital path Insertion loss was 0.1 dB up to 2.1 GHz and isolation
was better than 40 dB. In order to reduce the actua-
tion voltage, which in the initial design was up to
RFRadio frequency 30 V, a redesign was performed with enlarged actua-
RFBRadio function block
tion plates. Several switches were also arranged in an
Figure 11. SP4T configuration to serve as a switch matrix, as
Radio function block. shown in Figure 14.

46 Bell Labs Technical Journal

Figure 14.
RF-MEMS switch matrix SP4T designed by Wispry.
For the SP4T conguration, the four toggle
switches were realized by using two single-pole single-
throw (SPST) switches, so eight individual switches
were required for the full conguration. The 5 mm 
5 mm packaged switch matrix is shown in Figure 15.
A test board for a recongurable lter was built in
which the RF MEMS switch matrix was used to
switch between four different SAW lters, covering
Figure 15.
Housing of RF-MEMS switch matrix.
the 450, 900, 1800, and 2100 MHz bands. This test
board is shown in Figure 16.
Figure 17 shows a wide-tuning range varactor
with capacitance variation larger than factor 5. The
tuning range of the synthesizer in the proposed ar-
chitecture does not have to span multiple octaves,
thanks to the use of recongurable prescalers in the
direct mixing architecture described above. A sub-
harmonic mixing approach was chosen, so that the
divider ratio of the prescalers is varied among 2, 4,
and 8. This approach results in synthesizers having
a tuning range of from 3 GHz to 4.4 GHz and a rela-
tive tuning range of 37%, which cannot be realized by
using a varicap diode. Either an RF MEMS varactor
can be used or the oscillator can be switched in two
ranges using RF MEMS switches.
RF MEMS varactors may be also used to realize
tunable bandpass lters in which the center frequency
can be tuned over a wide range. The RF MEMS var-
actor shown in Figure 17 offers a capacitance varia-
tion larger than factor 5, which results in a variation
Bell Labs Technical Journal 47
Figure 16.
Test board of RF-MEMS switch matrix.
Figure 17.
Wide tuning varactor by Wispry.
of the resonance frequency of at least factor 2 in a
simple inductor-capacitor lter (LC) network.
However, in a multiband/multistandard RF
system, it is desirable to tune not only the center
frequency but also the bandwidth. In a passive LC
resonance circuit, this means that not only the
48 Bell Labs Technical Journal
capacitance but also the inductance must be tunable.
This capability requires RF MEMS variometers. While
there have been research demonstrations of contin-
uously tunable inductors and RF MEMS switched in-
ductor banks, the development of RF MEMS-based
tunable inductors clearly lags that of varactors.
Nevertheless, tunable inductors are unique to RF
MEMS; they are not available in semiconductor
technologies.
If such a exible lter were used as a preselector
or postselector in a frequency agile RF system archi-
tecture such as that shown in Figure 10, Q factors
greater than 200 would be needed to meet blocking
and spurious emission requirements. Typically, RF
MEMS devices offer Q values in the range of 60 to
150, so techniques for enhancing Q would be needed.
One way to do this might be to apply moderate active
feedback in a way similar to that of the Audion prin-
ciple, as shown in Figure 18. In this approach, part of
the output signal is fed back into the resonant circuit
through a programmable gain amplier. By program-
ming the gain of the feedback amplier, the amount
of feedback, and thus the amount of Q-factor en-
hancement, can be set.
 Programmable
gain amp.
Input
isolation Output
amp. isolation amp.
Optional
detector
Logic and driver
Calibration table
FLASH RAM
RAMRandom access memory
Figure 18.
Tunable lter radio function block based on Audion
principle.
Active feedback always magnies the risk of un-
wanted oscillation, so circuit elements stabilizing the
amount of feedback must be included in the circuit
topology. First, isolation ampliers may be placed at
the input and output of the radio function block to
prevent variations of the source and load impedances
from detuning the resonant structure and the varying
the amount of feedback. Second, the resonant struc-
ture may be electromagnetically shielded. This can be
done by burying it in one of the inner layers of a
multilayer low-temperature co-red ceramic (LTCC)
circuit similar to the resonator of the synthesizer radio
function block shown in Figure 19.
The synthesizer RFIC with the LTCC module in
Figure 19 is not packaged, as only a simple environ-
mental seal is placed above the RFIC. With wafer-
scale or chip-scale packaging for RF MEMS, a similar
seal is all that would be required for module assembly
when mounting RF MEMS components. The me-
chanical aspects of RF MEMS require chip- or wafer-
scale packaging, which is now common in RF SAWs.
In general, RF MEMS performance is superior at the
Figure 19.
Synthesizer radio function block.
die level, but it is easily degraded if careful attention
is not paid to the package environment. The LTCC ap-
proach ensures that the superior RF performance of
MEMS is translated to the system level.
The integration of both passive and active com-
ponents into a module is an ideal basis for making
full use of the exibility and superior performance of-
fered by RF MEMS. Moreover, the inherent separa-
tion of the signal and control paths in an RF MEMS
device perfectly supports the objective behind RFBs,
which is to recongure the characteristics of an ana-
log signal path through a digital interface.
The RFB in Figure 19 also contains a calibration
table that may be written during RFB production. The
calibration table contains entries that are necessary
for translating frequency, bandwidth, and gain com-
mands at the digital interface into tuning voltages and
programming words for the various components in-
side the RFB. As the concept of encapsulation through
isolation ampliers and buried resonators is applied, it
is expected that the entries in the calibration table
will be independent of the circuitry around the RFB.
The use of RFBs has signicant advantages during
RF system design. Normally, design centering is per-
formed by means of design iteration with altered com-
ponent values, but, in an RF system based on RFBs,
changes can be made to the RF chain by reprogram-
ming the RFBs. From this perspective, RFBs can be
seen as key elements of analog software radios.
With frequency agile power ampliers, it is nec-
essary to readjust matching structures when changing
frequency bands, because the impedance of amplify-
ing transistors is highly frequency dependent. Various
Bell Labs Technical Journal 49
 50 line 50 line
Amplifier
Control
Figure 20.
Recongurable amplier based on RF-MEMS switches.
50 line 50 line
Amplifier
Control
Figure 21.
Recongurable amplier based on RF-MEMS varactors.
topologies of recongurable matching structures can
be envisioned. Either matching stubs switched by RF
MEMS switches or a pi-topology incorporating RF
MEMS varactors could be used. Only some dam seal-
ing must be placed above the RFIC in order to prevent
package parasitics from degrading performance.
For an alteration between two bands, a switching
approach such as that shown in Figure 20 is suf-
cient. However, when the number of different fre-
quency bands is large, an approach based on RF
MEMS varactors (see Figure 21) is more exible. A
challenge in such a context is the current-handling
capability of RF MEMS devices. On the input side, RF
power levels are quite moderate, but, on the output
side, they can be quite high, resulting in large reactive
currents owing through the RF MEMS devices.
An alternate approach may be the use of wide
band gap power transistors, which can have imped-
ance levels close to 50 Ohm. (See Figure 22.) A tech-
nique for the frequency-selective cancellation of the
gate drain capacitance may be implemented. By chang-
ing the properties of the passive feedback network,
50 Bell Labs Technical Journal
180 transformer
Drain
50 line 50 line
Gate Source
Transistor
Control
Figure 22.
Tunable frequency selective amplier.
a peak in the gain can be obtained and attenuation at
unwanted frequency ranges will be present. This tech-
nique offers a signicant advantage over the use of
broadband power ampliers. With broadband ampli-
ers, wideband noise in the transmit chain around re-
ceive frequencies would be amplied and would lead
to high rejection requirements in the duplexer lter. In
frequency-division duplex systems, in which receiv-
ing and transmitting is performed simultaneously,
degradation of the receiver by wideband transmit noise
must be avoided.
The selection provided by the amplier can con-
tribute to the overall ltering effort in the transmit
chain. It contributes to a so-called distributed lter
approach, in which each signal processing stage,
whether digital or analog, contributes to the overall
filtering effort. In the architecture depicted in
Figure 10, the selectivity provided by the postselector
(i.e., the interstage lter), in conjunction with the se-
lectivity provided by the power ampliers, leads to a
reduction of the requirements for the duplexer, which
today is a costly device of large form factor and high
weight. It also simplies the effort required to recon-
figure the duplexer. Instead of frequency-selective
gate drain capacitance neutralization, narrowband
matching topologies may be used with a classical am-
plier, after which, of course, it is advisable to use RF
MEMS varactors for precise frequency setting of the
gain peak.
In the Recongurable Mobile Systems (RMS) re-
search project funded by the German Federal Ministry
of Research and Education (BMBF), which lasted from
 TXPA Addr. B0 TXBP Addr. A0 TXMX Addr. 90 TXDA Addr. 70

50 50 50 50
A/D DUC

Verantw.: BFR/WEC Verantw.: RST Verantw.: FKL Verantw.: PBA/FKL

Analog lines
TXFP Addr. C0 Rekonfig bus FBAD Addr. xx
Digital data lines 50
50
50
0/90 A/D DDC

50

LABVIEW
Verantw.: RST/WEC Verantw.: JHE
LVDS

DISPLAY Addr. E0 RXLO Addr. 50 TXLO Addr. 60 RefClock Addr. D0

PLL PLL
Ref Ref
VCO Clock
VCO Ref

loop filter loop filter

Verantw.: TIL Verantw.: GKA Verantw.: GKA Verantw.: RBR

50
RXBP Addr. 10 RXMX Addr. 20 RXAD Addr. 30

50 50 50
A/D DDC

Verantw.: JHE/GKA Verantw.: GKA/FKL Verantw.: JHE

DUPLO
DBIB

Figure 23.
Architecture of RMS demonstrator.

July 2001 to December 2004, a demonstrator was
built as a practical demonstration of the recongura-
tion of a common RF signal path in order to address
multiple mobile communication bands. Figure 23
shows the RF architecture of the RMS demonstrator,
and Figure 24 shows the mechanical construction of
the RMS demonstrator frame. Each RF function has its
own module housing. This allows changing modules
between different realizations of an RF function. For
example, a exible lter based on SAW lters being
switched by an RF MEMS matrix can be exchanged
with a lter based on GaAs-FET switches. Moreover,
a tunable lter based on variable RF MEMS varactors
can be supported by this approach.
The module carrier frame shown in Figure 25
serves as a platform for hosting all the modules shown
in the mechanical construction of Figure 24.
Figure 26 is a picture of a recongurable receive
bandpass module incorporating an RF MEMS switch
matrix. It is interesting to compare this module with
the transmit bandpass module shown in Figure 27,
which uses a GaAs FET switch matrix. The drawback
of this approach is immediately visible. The recong-
urable bandpass based on RF MEMS requires only a
single matrix at the output, thanks to the high isola-
tion provided by RF MEMS. On the other hand, the
reconfigurable filter based on GaAs switch matrix
technology requires two matrices, one at the input
and one at the output. Moreover, biasing techniques
must be implemented with GaAs switches. Another
reason two matrices are needed with GaAs-FETs is
that the GaAs FET-based switch matrices have very
high parasitics capacitance for unselected signal
paths.

Bell Labs Technical Journal 51

Figure 24.
Mechanical construction of RMS demonstrator.

Figure 25.
RMS demonstrator module carrier frame.

52 Bell Labs Technical Journal

Figure 26.
Recongurable receive bandpass using an RF-MEMS switch matrix to switch between four xed SAW lters.

Figure 27.
Recongurable transmit bandpass using GaAs FET switches to switch between four xed SAW lters.

Using two matrices means that the RF loss of the especially for low noise designs. For the RF MEMS
switch matrix is doubled when compared to that of a switch matrix, the out-of band rejection was further
single switch matrix. In this case, RF MEMS technol- enhanced by shorting the unused lters to ground,
ogy offers significant benefits at the system level, as shown in Figure 28.

Bell Labs Technical Journal 53


Bandpass SP4T
filters RF-MEMS
witch matrix
RF-MEMSRadio frequency
microelectromechanical systems
SP4TSingle-pole four-throw switch
Figure 28.
Recongurable lter topology with enhanced
stopband attenuation.
Figures 29 and 30 show the transmit mixer mod-
ule, in which multiband capability is achieved by
using RF MEMS to switch the matching structures at
the local oscillator (LO) and RF ports.
Figure 31 and 32 show receive and transmit syn-
thesizer modules that use RF MEMS to switch the fre-
quency ranges. The light-emitting diodes (LEDs) in
each module indicate the actual setting of the fre-
quency band and the standard. Figure 33 shows the
baseband digital interface board hosting the convert-
ers and interface drivers.
The demonstrator will be presented to the public
at the status seminar of the BMBF that takes place in
June 2005 at the University of Ulm; it is an excellent
example of the system-level benets of RF MEMS and
of the maturity of the RF MEMS industry.
The Future of RF MEMS
The RF MEMS devices discussed above have
focused on drop-in replacements for discrete, passive
solid-state devices. In many cases, RF MEMS can offer
advantages in terms of size, cost, or performance for
such devices.
Work on active devices is less advanced, although
there have been demonstrations of vacuum microelec-
tronics, such as the planar triode shown in Figure 34.
The high impedance and high operating voltage of a
planar triode makes it an ideal device in high-frequency,
high-bandwidth applications such as wireless power

Figure 29.
Multiband transmit mixer module using RF-MEMS to switch matching structures (top view).

54 Bell Labs Technical Journal

Figure 30.
Multiband transmit mixer module using RF-MEMS to switch matching structures (bottom view).

Figure 31.
Wide tuning receive synthesizer feeding a recongurable prescaler and using an RF-MEMS switch for alteration of
frequency range.

Bell Labs Technical Journal 55

Figure 32.
Wide tuning transmit synthesizer feeding a recongurable prescaler and using RF-MEMS for frequency range
switching.

Figure 33.
Multiband transmit mixer module using RF-MEMS to switch matching structures (bottom view).

56 Bell Labs Technical Journal

Figure 34.
RF-MEMS based planar triode.
ampliers. It is possible to take advantage of the design
exibility of MEMS to add more functionality to active
device structures. For example, a micropentode can be
fabricated without requiring any additional processing
steps. The design and fabrication of inductive-output-
type vacuum tube devices such as klystrodes, klystrons,
and traveling wave tubes using such solid-state-based
MEMS technologies are also clearly within reach. Such
devices have the potential to have an enormous impact
on the wireless infrastructure. Power ampliers based
on traveling wave tubes have been shown to offer sub-
stantial benets in terms of the efciency of wireless
basestations, but they cannot currently be justied be-
cause of their cost and size.
Unique to the work described above was the in-
corporation of nanoscale structures based on carbon
nanotubes to enhance device functionality and per-
formance. The powerful combination of nanomateri-
als and MEMS technology will likely stimulate the
creation of new and unique devices useful for a
variety of other applications.
The key to the evolution of RF MEMS will be
their monolithic integration into RFICs. Not only will
this integration allow circuit designers to take full
advantage of the performance of discrete RF MEMS
devices, it will also enable new system architectures to
optimize performance. An example of this would be
the use channel-select lter banks in the mobile in-
frastructure. In order for this evolution to take hold,
the industry-standard foundry fabrication process and
the EDA infrastructure must mature. An example
design ow from Coventor is shown in Figure 35.
In the late 1970s a quiet revolution took place in
the semiconductor industry, as EDA and process tech-
nology progressed to the point at which register
transfer language (RTL) and physical-layer design
became effectively independent. This launched the
foundry business model and supported the rise of
fabled semiconductor companies. RF MEMS now sit
on this same cusp; their use should explode over the
next decade as design and foundry manufacturing
mature.
Bell Labs Technical Journal 57
 Develop Build Simulate Create Layout
Concept Design Performance & 3D Model
Figure 35.
RF-MEMS design ow.
Acknowledgments
Georg Fischer would like to thank the German
Federal Ministry of Research and Education (BMBF)
for funding this work under grant 01BU173 RMS
and 01BU387 ErGaN (reconfigurable GaN-based
amplifiers). He also wants to thank the European
Commission for financial support in the area of
MEMS-based recongurable matching structures with
frequency agile ampliers within the European IST
program FP6 Network of Excellence Top Amplifier
Research Group in a European Team (TARGET).
*Trademarks
CDMA2000 is a registered trademark of the
Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA-USA).
Global System for Mobile Communications and GSM are
registered trademarks of GSM Association.
References
[1] J. Bouchaud and H. Wicht, RF MEMS: Status
of the Industry and Roadmaps, <http://www.
wtc-consult.de/deutsch/publika/abstract/
rfmems.htm>.
[2] H. J. De Los Santos, G. Fischer, H.A.C. Tilmans,
and J.T.M. van Beek, RF MEMS for Ubiquitous
Wireless Connectivity, IEEE Microwave Mag.,
5:4 (2004), 5065.
[3] V. Ermolov, H. Nieminen, K. Nybergh,
T. Ryhanen, and S. Silanto, MEMS for Mobile
Communications, Circuit Assembly (2002),
4244.
58 Bell Labs Technical Journal
Perform
Detailed Analysis Fabricate
Create
Macromodels
for Simulation
[4] W. T. Hsu, RF MEMS Experience Growing
Popularity, Wireless Syst. Designs (354),
Mar. 2003, <http://www.wsdmag.com/
Articles/Article1D/6579/6579.html>.
[5] C. T.-C. Nguyen, L. P. B. Katehi, and
G. M. Rebeiz, Micromachined Devices for
Wireless Communications, Proc. of the IEEE,
86:8 (1998), 17561768.
[6] K. E. Peterson, Micromechanical Membrane
Switches on Silicon, IBM J. R&D., 23:4 (1979),
376385.
[7] P. Rjsel, What Can RF MEMS Do for Mobile
Telephones?, MEMSWAVE Workshop (Uppsala,
Fin., 2004).
Additional Reading
G. Fischer, Requirements for the Radio
Architecture of 4G/3G+ Basestations,
MIOP2001, (Stuttgart, Ger., 2001), Microwave
and Optronics Proceedings.
G. Fischer, RF MEMS as a Key Enabling
Technology for Multiband/Multistandard
Radios, Nexus, User Supplier Club on
Telecommunications, IMEC, (Leuven, Belg.,
2002), <http://www.nexus-mems.com>.
G. Fischer, RF MEMS for Base Stations,
IEEE/VE Internat. Workshop on W-CDMA RF
Issues and Future Trends, an Ultrasonics
Symposium Post Conference Workshop,
(Salzburg, Austria, 2002).
G. Fischer, RF Architecture of Frequency Agile
Base Stations, IEEE/VE Internat. Workshop on
 W-CDMA RF Issues and Future Trends, an include All in the Wrist by Joseph Verrengia, which
Ultrasonics Symposium Post Conference discusses components for single-chip cell phones; this
Workshop, (Salzburg, Austria, 2002). article has already appeared in 23 publications and
G. Fischer, W. Eckl, and G. Kaminski, RF MEMS information sources, including CNN online.
and SiC/GaN as Enabling Technologies for a
Recongurable Multiband/Multistandard Radio,
GEORG FISCHER is a CMTS in the Basestation Forward-
Bell Labs Tech. J., 7:3 (2002), 169189.
Looking Department at Lucent
G. Fischer, Using RF MEMS for a Recongurable
Technologies in Nurnberg, Germany. He has
Frequency Agile Frontend Within a Software
an M.S. degree in electrical engineering
Radio Architecture, Workshop on Recongurable
from the University of Aachen in Germany
MEMS for Low-Frequency/High-Volume
and a Ph.D. degree (also in electrical
Applications, IEEE IMS04, (Fort Worth, TX,
engineering) from the University of Paderborn in
2004).
Germany. Dr. Fischer acted as a chairman in ETSI during
F. Pivit, G. Fischer, C. Waldschmidt, and W.
the physical layer standardization of the GSM-EDGE
Wiesbeck, Multi-Band Base Station Antenna for
system. He lectures at the University of Erlangen on
Diversity and MIMO Applications, EUMW,
basestation RF technology, with a specic focus on
(Amsterdam, Neth., 2004).
receiver and transmitter architectures. He holds various
F. Pivit, G. Fischer, and W. Wiesbeck, Concept
patents in the area of RF technology, specically for
for Dual Polarized Multiband Aperture Antenna
work on RF-MEMS, power ampliers, and transceiver
Element for Recongurable Base Stations, JINA,
architectures, and has published various papers on RF
(Nice, Fr., 2004).
technologies for recongurable, frequency agile RF
H. J. De Los Santos, G. Fischer, H.A.C. Tilmans,
systems.
and J.T.M. van Beek, RF MEMS for Ubiquitous
Wireless Connectivity. Part I. Fabrication, IEEE
Microwave Mag., 5:4 (2004), 3649. JRMIE BOUCHAUD is director of market research
H. J. De Los Santos, G. Fischer, H.A.C. Tilmans, for microsystem products at WTC-Wicht
and J.T.M. van Beek, RF MEMS for Ubiquitous Technologie Consulting. He graduated from
Wireless Connectivity. Part II. Application, IEEE the Munich University of Applied Sciences
Microwave Mag., 5:4 (2004), 5065. and the Ecole Suprieure de Commerce of
G. Fischer, Frequency Agile Basestation Grenoble in France. He has gained an
Systems, Gerotron RadioTecc Workshop und international reputation as a market expert for RF
Entwicklerforum, (Berlin, Ger., 2004). MEMS. His thorough analysis of the RF MEMS market
has been published in the report The Market for
RF MEMS 20022007. He is also a member of the
(Manuscript approved June 2005) International Advisory Board of the European Network
of Excellence on RF MEMS. He was in charge of
PETER GAMMEL is Senior Vice President, electronics, at technology transfer at the German ofce of CEA-LETI
Advance Nanotech in New York, New York. between 1998 and 2000 before joining WTC as a co-
He earned a B.S. in mathematics and physics founder. He is also member of the Industrial Advisory
(Phi Beta Kappa) from the Massachusetts Board of AMICOM, the European Network of
Institute of Technology in Cambridge and a Excellence on RF Microsystems.
Ph.D. in physics (A. D. White Fellowship)
from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. He is a
fellow of the American Physical Society and the
recipient of the 1988 W. McMillan award for
outstanding young researchers. He formerly served on
the Industrial Advisory Board of MITs Microelectronics
Technology Laboratory, Princetons Center for
Photonics and Optoelectronic Materials (POEM), and
the Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC) Board
of Directors. Dr. Gammel has published over 200 papers
and led over 50 patents. Articles describing his work

Bell Labs Technical Journal 59