Liwei Lin (Advisor)

On chip capacitive-gap transduced micromechanical resonators constructed via MEMS technology have achieved very high Q’s at both VHF and UHF range, making them very attractive as on-chip frequency selecting elements for filters in wireless communication applications. Still, there are applications, such as software-defined cognitive radio, that demand even higher Q’s at RF to enable low-loss selection of single channels (rather than bands of them) to reduce the power consumption of succeeding electronic stages down to levels more appropriate for battery-powered handhelds. This...

Ultrasound has long been used for medical imaging. Recent advances of miniaturized MEMS ultrasonic transducers new applications such as gesture recognition, personal fitness devices, and fingerprint sensors. These devices are considerably smaller than conventional transducers. To benefit from their lower excitation power requirements and address the reduced sensitivity requires the design of novel interface electronic circuits.

The first part of this thesis describes new circuits capable of generating all the high voltage drive signals for MEMS transducers on-chip from a single low...

High-Q narrowband filters at ultra-high frequencies hold promise for reducing noise and suppressing interferers in wireless transceivers, yet research efforts confront a daunting challenge. So far, no existing resonator technology can provide the simultaneous high-Q, high electromechanical coupling (k2 ), frequency tunability, low motional resistance (Rx), stop band rejection, self-switch ability, frequency accuracy, and power handling desired to select individual channels or small portions of a band over a wide RF range. Indeed, each technology...