RF MEMS-Based Tunable Filters

James Brank, Jamie Yao, Mike Eberly, Andrew Malczewski, Karl Varian,
Charles Goldsmith
Raytheon Systems Company, P. O. Box 660246 MS 35, Dallas, Texas 75266
Accepted 17 May 2001

ABSTRACT: This paper overviews the application of RF MEMS switches in tunable lters
as well as circuit developments for bandpass lters covering 110 MHz to 2.8 GHz. RF MEMS
have several desirable features, including small size, low power requirements, and low loss.
The basic operation of Raytheons RF MEMS capacitive membrane switch is described. An
overview of the technique used to integrate the switch into a variable capacitor structure with
sixteen capacitance states is provided. Variable capacitor structures are used to construct
multipole lumped bandpass lter designs, each with sixteen states. Finally, measured data
from two representative ve- and six-pole bandpass lters are presented. Characterization
data demonstrates that the insertion loss for the ve-pole lter using on-chip inductors was
between 6.6 and 7.3 dB, and between 3.7 and 4.2 dB for the six-pole lter using off-chip
inductors. 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE 11: 276284, 2001.
Keywords: MEMs; microelectromechanical system; tunable capacitors; varactors; membrane
capacitor; tunable lter; tunable bandpass lter

I. INTRODUCTION
Filters are the basic building blocks within frequency converting systems such as receivers and
tuners. At microwave frequencies (1 GHz and
above), lters are composed of high-Q resonators
such as printed transmission line, suspended rods,
or dielectric pucks. Depending on the media
used to create these resonators, excellent performance can be achieved with Qs in the hundreds
for printed lines to tens of thousands for dielectric resonators. The need for frequency tunability
within broadband receiving and transmitting systems usually necessitates switching of multiple
xed-tuned circuits. The use of tunable lters and
resonators can signicantly simplify complexity
and reduce losses within complex multiband systems. Unfortunately, there is not yet a tunable
Correspondence to: James Brank
Contract grant sponsor: Raytheon.
Contract grant number: DARPA F 30602-97-C-D1 8la,
2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

276

resonator component that affords the high performance achieved by xed resonators. YIG lters
come the closest to having very good lter selectivity, but at the expense of being bulky, requiring
signicant quiescent current, and being expensive.
To date, diode varactor-tuned circuits, though
simple and requiring little bias current and size,
have not met the expectations of most modern
receiver requirements in terms of loss. As such,
inexpensive and high performance tunable resonators have become one of the holy grails of
receiver components.
The advent of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) for radio-frequency (RF) applications provides new possibilities for achieving
the desired characteristics of a tunable resonator.
RF MEMS devices, a new paradigm in the construction of electronic devices, created mechanical structures on the microscale. Being constructed entirely of low-loss metals and dielectrics,
these mechanical structures inherently have low
loss.

RF MEMS-Based Tunable Filters

Development of RF MEMS switches has been

under way seriously since about 1995 from several
industrial and university groups. These devices
have distinguished themselves as having very low
loss, requiring practically no power consumption,
and having very high linearity. The application
of RF MEMS has already proven to provide
revolutionary (rather than evolutionary) improvements in electronic switching performance for
phase shifters at microwave and millimeter-wave
frequencies.
This paper explores the use of RF MEMS
capacitive switches in the application of tunable lters. Since these devices are operated in a
bistable manner, with either a high or low capacitance, they are a natural device for accomplishing
digital frequency selection within a lter. The
capacitive membrane switch is used to create a
multibit variable capacitor which serves as a digital varactor. This varactor is in turn used within
resonators and coupling circuits to create tunable,
lumped-element LC lters for receiver front-end
applications.

II. MEMS VARIABLE CAPACITOR

CONSTRUCTION/ ELECTRICAL
PERFORMANCE
To create variable capacitors, xed MIM capacitors are combined in series with RF MEMS capacitive switches as shown in Figure 1. This creates a
two-state capacitor whose value is set by the series
combination of the xed cap and the capacitance
of the RF MEMS. The minimum value of the twostate capacitor is limited by the off-capacitance of
the MEMS, and the maximum value is limited
by the on-capacitance of the RF MEMS. Generally, the value of the xed cap is kept below
the on-capacitance of the MEMS switch to minimize the effect of MEMS variation. Combinations
of these two-state capacitors with xed capacitors
allow construction of variable capacitor structures,
ref. [1].

Top View
Membrane
Undercut
Access
Holes

Signal
Path

Lower
Electrode
Dielectric

Post

Cross Section
Dielectric

High resistivity silicon

Figure 2. Views of the RF MEMS capacitive switch.

[Color gure can be viewed in the online issue, which is
available at www.interscience.wiley.com.]

The basic RF MEMS capacitive switch is

shown in Figure 2. The structure is basically a
parallel-plate capacitor with a movable top plate.
Applying a voltage between the membrane (top
plate) and electrode (bottom plate) creates an
electric eld. When the eld is strong enough,
the membrane will ex downward and contact the
dielectric. A simple electrical model of the switch
is shown in Figure 3. Typical on capacitance
(membrane down) is 3 pF, and off capacitance
(membrane up) is 30 fF, [2, 3].
The xed capacitor used were metal-insulatormetal (MIM) capacitors, as shown in Figure 4.
Both top and bottom plates of the capacitor are
gold, with a thin silicon nitride dielectric layer
(r = 68). Average capacitance, resistance, and
Q at 1 GHz for four MIM test structures are
shown in Table I. It should be noted that when
measuring high-Q devices it can be difcult to
extract accurate values for Q. The Q values are

RF
MEMS

RSE

CON/OFF

RSH

Figure 1. Schematic of a two-state variable capacitor

using RF MEMS.

Electrode

Buffer Layer

RSE

Fixed
Cap

277

RSH

Figure 3. Simple schematic of the RF MEMS capacitive switch. [Color gure can be viewed in the online
issue, which is available at www.interscience.wiley.com.]

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Brank et al.

Control
Lines

C4
C3
C2
C1
C0

Figure 5. Schematic of a four-bit variable capacitor

using RF MEMS.
Figure 4.

Layout of a MIM capacitor.

very sensitive to small errors in R and can be

difcult to extract. Other measurements of similar capacitors yielded Qs that varied by as much
as 100%. This large variation depends upon
the specic measurement conditions, such as the
calibration method used or the condition of the
RF probes.
The schematic of a four-bit variable capacitor is shown in Figure 5. It consists of ve xed
capacitors, four of which are in series with an RF
MEMS capacitive switch. A layout of a four-bit
variable cap is shown in Figure 6. Depending
on which combination of switches are actuated,
the capacitance across the variable capacitor can
be set. In the design of a variable capacitor, the
xed capacitors are designed to give even steps
of capacitance between the minimum and maximum required values of capacitance. The variable
capacitor layout shown in Figure 6 incorporates
some subtle improvements over the previous versions of variable capacitors. The xed capacitor
values are shown in Table II. The variable capacitor structure is straightened out in order to
place the larger capacitor states closer to the
RF signal path. This was done to minimize the
series inductance. Reducing the series inductance
of the capacitors is especially important in the
TABLE I. Average Measured Resistance, Capacitance,
and Q for MIM Capacitor Test Structures

Nominal C pF
0.56
1.06
5.11
10.28

R, ohms
(@ 1 GHz)
1.60
0.60
0.10
0.13

Q
(@ 1GHz)
179.08
251.74
302.40
120.19

Figure 6. Photograph of a variable capacitor. [Color

gure can be viewed in the online issue, which is available at www. interscience.wiley.com.]

larger capacitors, as unwanted self resonance can

degrade the frequency response of a lter. A side
benet of this rearrangement is that the digital control lines can easily be routed to the RF
MEMS devices without having to cross over any
of the RF paths.
Measured data for a typical variable capacitor
is shown in Figure 7. The capacitance increases
in even steps except for the step between steps 7
and 8. The C4 capacitor value was slightly too
large, which caused the gap in capacitance values. The capacitance is very at versus frequency,
which is due to the high self-resonant frequency
of the structure.
TABLE II. Fixed Capacitor Values for
the Circuit Shown in Figure 6.

C0
C1
C2
C3
C4

3.08 pF
0.231 pF
0.498 pF
1.18 pF
3.88 pF

Capacitance, pF

RF MEMS-Based Tunable Filters

7.00
6.50
6.00
5.50
5.00
4.50
4.00
3.50
3.00
2.50
2.00
0.050

279

then the variable capacitors must be roughly capable of tuning

Cmax
= 2
Cmin

0.100

0.150

0.200

0.250

Frequency, GHz

Figure 7. Capacitance versus frequency for the sixteen

states of the variable capacitor.

III. TUNABLE FILTER TOPOLOGY

Of the many lter topologies available, only a few
are amenable to construction of a tunable lter.
The capacitively coupled LC resonators bandpass
lter, shown in Fig. 8, was chosen as the baseline design [4 5]. The redundancy of the elements
allows an extra degree of freedom in the choice
of component values, which allowed the inductance to stay constant as the center frequency is
tuned.
Choosing the component values is challenging,
and several design and simulation iterations are
necessary. The designer is given electrical requirements, such as frequency range over which the
lter must tune, bandwidth, insertion loss, and
number of tunable states, that must be satised.
Unfortunately, it may be impossible to simultaneously satisfy all requirements. For example, if a
constant bandwidth is required, the insertion loss
of the lter will vary across the tuning range. If a
constant insertion loss is required, the bandwidth
must vary across the tuning range [6].
Choice of the inductor is determined primarily by the Q of available devices, as in a xed
lter design. An added constraint is that if a
tunable lter using xed inductors has a tuning
range of
=

Cs01

fmax

fmin

L1

IV. TUNABLE FILTER REALIZATIONS

The designs presented here incorporate the
improvements in variable capacitor design

Cs12

Cp1

Figure 8.

The implications can be seen in the following

gures. Two tunable lters were designed. Both
were ve-pole capacitively coupled 0.1 dB Chebyshev bandpass lters with sixteen states and xed
180 MHz bandwidth but with different tuning
ranges. Both lters used a xed 2 nH inductor. Using a spreadsheet, the series and shunt
capacitances of Figure 8 were calculated for
each frequency step. These values are shown in
Figures 9 and 10. The starting point for these
calculations is given in ref. [1].
The lter of Figure 9 had a tuning range of
885 to 986 MHz, or an 11% tuning range. The
series and shunt capacitor values versus tuning state have very slight curvature, and can be
approximated quite well with a straight line. This
works well with the variable capacitor structure
described in Section III. Step size for this lter will be even, and bandwidth will be relatively
constant across the tuning range.
The lter of Figure 10 had a tuning range of
996 to 2068 MHz, or a 108% tuning range. The
series and shunt capacitor values versus tuning
state have a noticeable curvature, and a linear
approximation is not as good. In practice, the
variable capacitors will be designed to have the
correct value at the maximum and minimum tuning ranges, and vary linearly with state between
the extremes. Step size for this lter will be
uneven, with larger steps at the high end of the
tuning range. As the values of the coupling capacitors are somewhat at, the bandwidth will be
roughly constant across the tuning range, with
a slightly larger bandwidth in the center of the
band.

L2

Cs23

Cp2

L3

Cs34

Cp3

L4

Cs45

L5

Cp4

Schematic of a capacitively coupled ve-pole bandpass lter.

Cs56

Cp5

280

Brank et al.
14

Capacitance, pF

12
10

Cp1, Cp5

Cs12,Cs45

Cp2, Cp4
Cs23, Cs34

Cp3

Cs01, Cs56

0
885

935

985

Center Frequency, MHz

Figure 9. Variation of capacitance with tuning state for a ve-pole lter, fc = 885986 MHz. [Color gure can be
viewed in the online issue, which is available at www. interscience.wiley.com.]

Capacitance, pF

described earlier, as well as processing improvements related to the metalization. These designs
have improved electrical performance, have a
better control structure, and demonstrate the
ability to incorporate these devices into higher
level assemblies. Improved wafer processing also
reduced the lter insertion loss and improved
device quality.
To date, seventeen different tunable lters
using RF MEMS have been built. They range in
complexity from simple one-pole structures with
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
996

twelve MEMS devices to six-pole lters with 139

MEMS devices. Both on-chip and off-chip inductors have been studied. The lter frequencies
covered 70 MHz to 2.8 GHz. As space is limited,
only two representative designs will be discussed.

UHF Tunable Filter

A ve-pole 0.1 dB Chebyshev bandpass lter
design, denoted as the UHF lter, is presented

Cp1, Cp5
Cs12, Cs45
Cs23, Cs34
Cp3
Cp2, Cp4
Cs01, Cs56
1496

1996

Center Frequency, MHz

Figure 10.

l=2057 um
w=125 um
0.075 pF

0.12 pF

0.12 pF

0.24 pF

0.24 pF

0.32 pF

1.62 pF

0.71 pF

0.52 pF

0.52 pF

0.71 pF

8.55 pF
5.32 pF

Schematic for the UHF lter.

0.22 pF

7.21 pF

3.43 pF

0.17 pF

1.87 pF

6.96 pF

0.80 pF

2.13 pF

0.39 pF

0.89 pF

0.42 pF

1.62 pF

7.69 pF

0.17 pF

1.87 pF

0.80 pF

0.22 pF

3.43 pF

6.96 pF

Figure 11.

0.15 pF

0.54 pF
1.22 pF

1.62 pF

2.13 pF

7.21 pF

l=2057 um
w=125 um
0.29 pF
0.65 pF

0.32 pF

5.32 pF

0.54 pF
1.22 pF

l=2057 um
w=125 um
0.075 pF

0.15 pF

0.17 pF

8.55 pF

l=2057 um
w=125 um
0.06 pF

2.16 pF

0.65 pF
1.62 pF

l=2057s
w=125 um
0.06 pF

0.39 pF

0.29 pF

Variation of capacitance with tuning state for a ve-pole lter, fc = 9962068 MHz.

RF MEMS-Based Tunable Filters

281

Figure 12. Layout of the UHF ve-pole lter. Die size is 3.5 mm by 14 mm. [Color gure can be viewed in the
online issue, which is available at www. interscience.wiley.com.]

VHF FILTER
A six-pole 0.1 dB Chebyshev bandpass lter,
denoted as the VHF design, is presented here.
This lter had a center frequency tuning range of
110 MHz to 160 MHz with a variable bandwidth
from 37 MHz to 58 MHz. A lumped element
design was derived for the maximum and minimum tuning frequencies with constant resonator
inductances of 27 nH. Off-chip inductors were
used in this case because the required value of
inductance was too large to incorporate on-chip.
Also, the improved Q of the off-chip inductors
improved the insertion loss compared to the onchip designs. As with the previous design, four-bit
variable capacitors were designed to cover the
required tuning ranges based on the lumped
designs. Some of the larger capacitor states used
multiple MEMS devices to switch large capacitancies. The schematic and layout are shown in
Figure 14 and Figure 15.
The measured insertion loss and return loss
of the ve-pole lter is shown in Figure 16.
Center frequency insertion loss across all tuning states was from 3.7 to 4.2 dB. Return loss

10

-5

-10

-15

-5

-20

-10

-25

-15

-30

-20

-35

-25

Return Loss (dB)

Insertion Loss (dB)

here. This lter had a center frequency tuning

range of 885 MHz to 986 MHz with a constant
bandwidth of 180 MHz. As described earlier, the
capacitively coupled LC resonator design was
chosen. A lumped element design was derived
for the maximum and minimum tuning frequencies with constant resonator inductances of 2.9
nH. On-chip inductors were used to demonstrate
the potential for integration of entire lters on
a chip, with the path to ground provided by ribbon bonds to the carrier plate. Four-bit variable
capacitors were designed to cover the required
tuning ranges based on the lumped designs. The
schematic and layout are shown in Figure 11 and
Figure 12.
The measured insertion loss and return loss
of the ve-pole lter is shown in Figure 13. The
lter tuned from 880 to 992 MHz, with the center frequency insertion loss across all tuning
states from 6.6 and 7.3 dB. Measured bandwidth
varied between 168 and 174 MHz. Return loss
was better than 10 dB for all tuning states. The
bandwidth and passband shape stayed relatively
constant as the center frequency of the lter was
tuned.

-30

-40
0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1.1

1.2

1.3

1.4

Frequency (GHz)

Figure 13. UHF frequency response. [Color gure can be viewed in the online issue, which is available at www.
interscience.wiley.com.]

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Brank et al.

90.0 pF
12.
99
0
pF

6.4 1.5 0.6 9.9

90 60 20 20
pF pF pF pF

127.45 pF
127.45 pF

27
nH

27
nH

43.290 pF
43.290 pF

14.620 pF
14.620 pF
5.20 pF
5.20 pF

24.150 pF

24.150 pF

12.
99
0
pF

6.4 1.5 0.6 9.9

90 60 20 20
pF pF pF pF

12.
99
0
pF

6.4 1.5 0.6 14.

90 60 20 71
pF pF pF 0
pF

71.73 pF
71.73 pF

27
nH

27
nH

28.34 pF
28.34 pF
10.78 pF
10.78 pF
4.15 pF
4.15 pF

20.92 pF

20.92 pF

12.
99
0
pF

6.4 1.5 0.6 14.

90 60 20 71
pF pF pF 0
pF

12.
99
0
pF

6.4 1.5 0.6 9.9

90 60 20 20
pF pF pF pF

was better than 15 dB for all tuning states. The

passband shape stayed relatively constant as the
center frequency of the lter was tuned, while the
bandwidth increased as the center frequency was
tuned higher. This resulted in the lter having
less insertion loss at the highest tuning state than
at the lowest tuning state.
When compared to a conventional switchedlter bank, the advantages of RF MEMS-based
lters are remarkable. Analysis indicates that compared with a typical switched-lter bank, use of
RF MEMS tunable lters allow a 60X reduction in
size, 150X reduction in weight, and a 10X reduction in the number of RF support switches. A
single MEMS-based lter can have sixteen tunable states, replacing sixteen xed frequency lters. The low power requirements of RF MEMS
can reduce lter assembly power requirements 8X.
Such size, weight, power, and circuit complexity
reductions are crucial in modern communications
designs.

V. CONCLUSION
Two tunable bandpass lters designs using RF
MEMS were demonstrated. Insertion loss for the
ve-pole UHF lter with on-chip inductors was
measured to be between 6.6 and 7.3 dB, and
between 3.7 and 4.2 dB for the six-pole VHF lter with off-chip inductors. Both lters exhibited
good return loss across the tuning range. Passband shape was also maintained across the tuning
range. With their high degree of integration, RF
MEMS show great potential for weight, power
consumption, and size reduction. Ongoing design
and process improvements will reduce the insertion loss further, as well as extend the operating
frequency range.

127.45 pF

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

127.45 pF

27
nH

27
nH

43.290 pF
43.290 pF

14.620 pF
14.620 pF
5.20 pF
5.20 pF

24.150 pF

24.150 pF

90.0 pF

Figure 14.

VHF lter schematic.

Raytheon, RF MEMS group, DARPA contract number

F30602-97-C-0186.

REFERENCES
1. Charles L. Goldsmith, Andrew Malczewski, Zhimin
Jamie Yao, Shea Chen, and David Hinzel, RF
MEMS variable capacitors for tunable lters, International Journal of RF and Microwave ComputerAided Engineering, 9 (1999), 362374.
2. Zhimin Jamie Yao, Shea Chen, Susan Eshelmann, David Denniston, and Charles Goldsmith,
Micromachined low-loss microwave switches, IEEE
microelectromechanical systems, 8 (1999), 129134.

RF MEMS-Based Tunable Filters

283

10

-5

-10

-15

-5

-20

-10

-25

-15

-30

-20

-35

-25

-40
0.05

Return Loss (dB)

Insertion Loss (dB)

Figure 15. Layout of the VHF ve-pole lter. Die size is 4 mm by 16 mm. [Color gure can be viewed in the online
issue, which is available at www. interscience.wiley.com.]

-30
0.1

0.15

0.2

0.25

0.3

Frequency (GHz)

Figure 16. VHF frequency response. [Color gure can be viewed in the online issue, which is available at www.
interscience.wiley.com.]
3. Charles L. Goldsmith, Zhimin Jamie Yao, Susan
Eshelmann, and David Denniston, Performance
of low-loss RF MEMS capacitive switches, IEEE
microwave and guided waves letters, 8 (1998),
269271.
4. Anatol I, Zverev, Handbook of lter synthesis,
Wiley, New York, 1967.

5. G.L. Matthaei, L. Young, and E.M.T. Jones,

Microwave lters, impedance-matching networks,
and coupling structures, McGraw-Hill, New York,
1964.
6. Thomas R. Cuthbert, Broadband direct-coupled
and matching RF networks, TRCPEP Publications,
Greenwood, AR, 1999.

BIOGRAPHIES
James Brank received his Bachelors
degree in Electrical Engineering from
Texas A&M University in 1982. He
received his Masters degree in Electrical Engineering from Southern Methodist
University in 1987. From 1983 to 1987
he was employed at E-Systems, Garland
Division where he performed integration
and test of electronic warfare receivers.
From 1987 to 1988 he worked for Raytheon in Bristol, Tennessee where he designed components for the Standard Missile
2 program. From 1989 to the present, he has been employed by
Raytheon Systems Company (formerly the Defense Electronics Group of Texas Instruments) where he has been involved in
a wide variety of projects, ranging from the design of X-band

radar modules to the application of phased array antenna technology for cellular telephone Smart Antennas. Currently he is
designing low loss MEMS tunable bandpass lters.
Zhimin J. Yao received her Ph.D. from
the School of Materials Science and Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology in 1995. She then worked as a post
doctoral research associate at the School
of Electrical Engineering, Cornell University for one year. Her research emphasis
was on silicon bulk micromachining. Dr.
Yao is currently working at Rockwell Science Center in Thousand Oaks, CA. Her research interests

284

Brank et al.

include design, fabrication and characterization of microelectromechanical systems.

Michael Eberly has been a member of
the IEEE since 1988 as a student member. He earned his BSEE from the University of South Florida in 1992. He was
with the United States Navy, on active
duty, from 1992 to 1994, transferring then
to the Naval Reserve. He has continued
with the Naval Reserve to the present and
currently holds the rank of Lieutenant. In
1994, he began studying part time for his Masters degree, while
teaching basic courses in Electrical Engineering Technology at
Tampa Technical Institute. In 1996, he was selected to study as
the Texas Instruments Fellowship Student at the University of
South Florida. He worked for Raytheon since the summer of
1997 as an engineering intern as part of the previously mentioned fellowship and permanently since August 1998. He was
awarded his Masters Degree in Electrical Engineering in the

fall of 2000. He is currently working in the Applied Research

Laboratory at Raytheon on RF/MEMS.

Andrew Malczewski was born in Warsaw, Poland in May, 1973. He earned a

Bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1996. Since 1996, he has been
involved in the design and development
of microwave and millimeter-wave circuits
for Raytheon Systems Company (formerly
the Defense Electronics Group of Texas
Instruments). He is also involved in the development of RF
MEMS technology for receiver and antenna applications. He
is presently pursuing his Masters degree in Electrical Engineering. Karl Varian photo and biography not available.

Karl Varian photo and biography not available.