Toward the Creation of the World's Smallest Radio
Abstract
Micro- and nanoelectromechanical systems (MEMS and NEMS) promise revolutionary scientific and technological solutions to longstanding Navy problems that include a range of distributed sensor and signal processor applications. Breakthroughs in microminiaturization of remote sensors and radio transceivers as well as dramatic reductions in their power consumption are enabled by the development of a new class of high frequency micron- and nanometer-size components where signals are no longer associated with electric current or voltage but by time-varying mechanical parameters, such as displacement, curvature, and stress. High speed performance of such devices is governed by scaling laws that shorten the time of the mechanical response and bring resonance frequencies for micron-size mechanical structures into the MHz and GHz range. By converting a radio-frequency (RF) electrical signal into the physical motion of micromechanical structures and exploiting their mechanical resonant properties, one can replace traditional RF components (e.g., quartz crystal, surface acoustic wave (SAW) filters, inductors) with their MEMS/NEMS counterparts. One of the goals of our research is to demonstrate a "radio-on-chip", an RF transceiver with dimensions less than 100 micrometers, where novel RF signal processing is implemented in these small mechanical structures and fully integrated with transistor circuitry.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2005
- Accession Number
- ADA521584
Entities
People
- Brian H. Houston
- M. Zalalutdinov
Organizations
- United States Naval Research Laboratory