A microelectromechanical AlN resoswitch for RF receiver application

Resonant switches (resoswitches) using a novel design and fabrication process are reported. A folded beam structure compensates for the stress-gradient-induced bending in the sputtered AlN material and ensures that the free end of the center actuated beam is in plane with the anchor beams. A 21.14 kHz resoswitch with a Q of over 2000 and an actuation gap of 1.3 μm is turned on at the resonant frequency with a 0.5 dBm 800 MHz carrier that is square wave modulated at 21.14 kHz. This demonstration shows the feasibility of monolithically integrating a high gain RF piezoelectric transformer with a high-Q electrostatic resoswitch for a zero stand-by power RF wake-up receiver.