Clark T.-C. Nguyen (Advisor)

As RF MEMS technology evolves to shift towards UHF frequencies, the parasitics inherent in hybrid fabrication approaches become the performance bottleneck. This project aims to integrate metal MEMS resonators directly over CMOS circuitry to achieve fully integrated MEMS systems. Pursuant to this goal, this project proposes several designs for UHF MEMS bandpass filters, exploring how different CMOS-compatible metals can yield performance metrics—such as quality-factor (Q), temperature stability and frequency drift—that are comparable to those of standard polysilicon MEMS resonators....

A micromechanical resoswitch design and operation mode harnesses stored mechanical
resonance energy to reduce its required switching energy, i.e., improve its sensitivity while
simultaneously reducing its switching time to support a bit rate of 8 kbps, which is at least 12
times faster than without pre-energization. Here, the use of stored energy is instrumental to
achieving switching times 8× faster than previously demonstrated, breaking the Q-driven
sensitivity-bit rate tradeoff often assumed for these devices and debunking long-held (incorrect)
assumptions. This...

An ultraviolet (UV)-ozone treatment process capable of atomic-scale surface cleaning has enabled the highest measured room temperature Q and frequency-Q product (f-Q) for on-chip polysilicon acoustic resonators to date while also demonstrating an ability to restore catastrophically contaminated devices to operational performance specs. Specifically, UV-ozone cleaning improved the Q of a heavily contaminated 61-MHz polysilicon wineglass disk resonator by over 282 from a very-low 921 to a record-setting-high of 259,910. Post-release UV-ozone treatment further raises the Q of a 303.2-...