Multi frequency excited MEMS cantilever beam resonator for Mixer-Filter applications

Wireless communication uses Radio Frequency waves to transfer information from one point to another. The modern RF front end devices are implementing MEMS in their designs so as to exploit the inherent properties of MEMS devices, such as its low mass, low power consumption, and small size. Among the components in the RF transceivers, band pass filters and mixers play a vital role in achieving the optimum RF performance. And this paper aims at utilizing an electrostatically actuated micro cantilever beam resonator's nonlinear frequency mixing property to realize a Mixer-Filter configuration through multi-frequency excitation. The paper studies about the statics and dynamics of the device. Simulations are carried out to study the added benefits of multi frequency excitation. The modelling of the cantilever beam has been done using a Reduced Order Model of the Euler-Bernoulli's beam equation by implementing the Galerkin discretization. The device is shown to be able to down-convert signals from 960 MHz of frequency to an intermediate frequency around 50 MHz and 70 MHz in Phase 1 and 2, respectively. The simulation showed promising results to take the project to the next level.