RF MEMS for Tunable Noise-Limiting Filters

XCom Wireless is a developer of RF MEMS relays, high-performance components that have been identified as a critical technology for the next generation of defense and commercial electronics. XCom RF MEMS-enabled circuits can serve as direct alternatives tosolid-state devices so communications and radar equipment manufacturers can easily upgrade, saving weight, space, power, and on system cost. The goal of the proposed program is to increase subsystem integration to enable smaller, higher performancesolutions while retaining the flexibility of hybrid system design and assembly. In the Phase I effort of this program, designs for integrated passives and tunable filter elements were designed and manufactured. The test results from these passives andfilter elements will be correlated to the filter design models for improved accuracy in Phase II redesign of electronically tunable filters. The program will result in the iterative design, test, and manufacture of bandpass and bandstop filters that aretunable over the 30 MHz to 1,000 MHz frequency range. XCom Wireless will employ low loss, low cost, hybrid integrated RF MEMS devices to enable the design of compact, high-performance electronically-reconfigurable filters. The XCom design strategy ofstacked assembly of RF MEMS with integrated passive components promises both low-cost and rapid manufacturing potential for specialized, high-performance defense applications from VHF to the mm-wave regime.This Phase II effort benefits the Department ofDefense in that it develops a highly adaptable, high-performance, low-cost radio filter concept into a prototype subsystem. The concept of a MEMS-based reconfigurable filter has generated interest from government agencies as well as commercial RF systemdevelopers, with few MEMS suppliers able to provide operational components to meet industry challenges. XCom Wireless has been developing a novel architecture for designing MEMS actuators into hybrid subsystem packages, allowing the flexibility of designand reliability of manufacture needed by critical services. The leveraging of XCom expertise, commercial opportunity, and ongoing complementary Air Force and NASA programs allows this Phase II effort to further MEMS technologies towards subsystemintegration and field testing. The benefit to the base station and critical civilian radio industry is significant, in that the markets for high-performance broadband and multi-band RF components and subsystems is large and growing at 35% yearly. Theneed for agile software is already being addressed heavily by commercial industries, but few companies are independently supporting the development of agile hardware. The test and instrumentation community, the aerospace communications and radarcommunity, and defense wireless system developers have been identified as the first adopters of agile RF MEMS technologies, with relevant MEMS-enabled component and subsystem sales expected to grow to over $200 million in 2006. Consumer markets for RFMEMS include fixed broadband equipment, WLAN hardware, and civilian handsets, and are projected to reach $1.5 billion in 2006.