MEMS bandpass filters based on cyclic coupling architectures

Bandpass filters based on resonant microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology have the unique advantage of exploiting the benefits of mechanical filters, namely their high quality factors and good temperature stability, while addressing the challenges associated with manufacturing costs and size, and enabling integrated fabrication with other on-board electronics. While prior works have demonstrated the high quality factors (10,000-25,000) and center frequencies (1-3 GHz) of microelectromechanical filters, the optimality of existing filter architectures and their associated performance metrics are yet to be fully examined. The current work investigates the relative utility of micromechanical designs based upon cyclic and all-to-all coupling architectures. Specifically, these architectures are benchmarked against conventional open-chain filter designs, and filter performance metrics, as well as robustness characteristics, are studied. The work also provides an overview of the fabrication sequence and the experimental setup designed to characterize the proposed filters