Mechanically Driven Solidly Mounted Resonator-Based Nanoelectromechanical Systems Magnetoelectric Antennas

The miniaturization of antennas has been a significant challenge in the field of electronics and telecommunications. In recent years, mechanically driven thin-film bulk acoustic resonator (FBAR) magnetoelectric (ME) antennas have emerged as a promising solution, demonstrating superior miniaturization capabilities compared to conventional state-of-the-art compact antennas. While nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) FBAR ME antennas exhibit high miniaturization potential, their suspended thin-film heterostructures render them fragile and exhibit low power handling capabilities. The findings demonstrate that solidly mounted resonator (SMR) NEMS ME antennas on a Bragg acoustic resonant reflector offer a compelling solution. With a circular resonating disk of 200 & mu;m diameter operating at 1.75 GHz, these SMR-based antennas display a high antenna gain of -18.8 dBi and a 1 dB compression point (P1dB) of 30.4 dBm. Compared to same-size FBAR ME antennas with a free-standing membrane, SMR-based antennas exhibit significantly higher structural stability and 23.3 dB stronger power handling capability, in addition to easier fabrication processes. The compatibility of the simple fabrication processes with complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor technology, along with the dramatic miniaturization, high power handling, robust mechanical properties, and much higher antenna radiation gain, make these SMR-based ME antennas a promising candidate for future antenna systems.