9530190 Nguyen This program extends the frequency of oscillation for micromechanical resonators to the VHF, UHF and S bands for application in wireless communication networks. Investigations will be conducted into material properties, mechanical design, circuit modeling, transducer design, fabrication, and electrical evaluation of the resonators. In order to extend the range of frequencies the resonators require nano-scale electrode-to-resonator gaps. This research will examine the influence of scaling on thermal and phase noise, the need to integrate peripheral circuits on the same substrate as the resonators, new design methodologies and a study of the performance parameters including reliability considerations. In particular, the research will focus on those loss mechanisms which limit the achievable quality factor, Q, of high frequency micromechanical resonators. the ultimate objective of this research is to realize single-chip transceivers based upon microelectromechanical (MEMS) signal processors. ***
