Power handling and intermodulation distortion of contour-mode AlN MEMS resonators and filters

We report measurements of the power handling and intermodulation distortion of piezoelectric contour mode resonators and filters operating near 500 MHz. The output power capability scales as the inverse of the motional impedance squared, and the power handling of resonator filter circuits scales with the number of resonators combined in series and parallel. Also, the third-order intercept depends on the measurement tone spacing. Individual AlN resonators with 50 Ω motional impedance demonstrate output power capability of +10 dBm and OIP
₃
>; +20 dBm, while an eight resonator filter demonstrates output power handling of +14 dBm and a OIP
₃
>; +32 dBm.