High-Q integrated RF passives and RF-MEMS on silicon

A technology platform is described for the integration of low-loss inductors, capacitors, and MEMS capacitors on a high-resistivity Si substrate. Using this platform the board space area taken up by e.g. a DCS PA output impedance matching circuit can be reduced by 50%. The losses of passive components that are induced by the semi-conducting Si substrate can effectively be suppressed using a combination of surface amorphisation and the use of poly crystalline Si substrates. A MEM switchable capacitor with a capacitance switching factor of 40 and an actuation voltage of 5V is demonstrated. A continuous tuneable dual-gap capacitor is demonstrated with a tuning ratio of 9 using actuation voltages below 15V.