Monolithic Multiband MEMS RF Front-End Module for 5G Mobile

• Published in: Journal of microelectromechanical systems Vol. 30; no. 1; pp. 72 - 80
• Main Authors: Campanella, Humberto, Qian, You, Romero, Christian O., Wong, Jen Shuang, Giner, Joan, Kumar, Rakesh
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 01.02.2021; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: 5G mobile communication; Acoustic insulation; Acoustic waves; bulk acoustic wave (BAW) filters; Electromagnetic wave filters; Fifth Generation of Mobile Communications (5G); Film bulk acoustic resonators; III-V semiconductor materials; Lamb acoustic wave devices; MEMS filters; Microelectromechanical systems; Micromechanical devices; Modules; Radio frequency; Radiofrequency integrated circuits; Resonators; RF front-end modules (RF-FEM); RF silicon-on-insulator (RF-SOI); Silicon; SOI (semiconductors); Switches; System on chip
• ISSN: 1057-7157; 1941-0158
• DOI: 10.1109/JMEMS.2020.3036379

This work reports a monolithic RF front-end module integrating bulk acoustic wave (BAW) filters, Lamb acoustic wave filters, and electronic RF silicon-on-insulator (RFSOI) switches to deliver single-chip multiband RF front-end module (RF-FEM) manufactured on commercial 200mm RF silicon-on-insulator (RFSOI) foundry technology. BAW and Lamb filters built in the same chip and within the same process enable multiband operation. Vertical System-on-Chip (SoC) integration of MEMS and RFSOI components contributes to footprint reduction up to 50%, compared to system-in-package (SiP) modules, and reduces the integration and design complexity of the modules. At its current state of development, this technology is suitable for diversity receive modules (DRX) for 4G/LTE and 5G bands. Extensive characterization results and case studies demonstrate the robustness of the integrated platform. Further productization of this technology will enable the next generation of hundred-filter 5G sub-6GHz RF-FEMs. [2020-0304]