A 1.3-2.4-GHz 3.1-mW VCO Using Electro-Thermo-Mechanically Tunable Self-Assembled MEMS Inductor on HR Substrate

作者：Bhattacharya Anirban^*; Mandal Debashis; Bhattacharyya Tarun Kanti

来源：IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, 2015, 63(2): 459-467.

DOI：10.1109/TMTT.2014.2380357

• Bond wire
• high-resistivity (HR) substrate
• microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) inductor
• quality factor
• self-assembly
• voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO)

This paper reports implementation and wafer-level testing of a self-assembled tunable microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) inductor with electrostatic, electrothermal, and thermal tuning capability. The surface micromachined inductor was fabricated on a high-resistivity (HR) substrate (rho = 5 k Omega.cm) using a doped polysilicon and Au-Cr metal combination as a bimorph structural layer for providing self-assembled elevation with an enhanced Q factor. Extensive electro-thermo-mechanical and RF characterization was carried out for the inductor, the latter over a temperature range from -30 degrees C to 150 degrees C. Furthermore, the tunable inductor was integrated in the tank circuit of a CMOS oscillator and wafer-level MEMS-CMOS voltage-controlled oscillator testing revealed a best figure-of-merit of -197.6 dB with a frequency tuning range of 1.3-2.4 GHz with a power consumption of 3.07 mW.

• 出版日期2015-2