This technology is a large reconfigurable filter array which can dynamically modulate its filtered frequencies to allow for cognitive radio communications.
Current radio frequency (RF) communications methods have resulted in extreme crowding in some spectral bands and significant underutilization at other frequencies. This unbalanced distribution of RF signals across the spectral frequencies is in part due to current radio receivers being designed to send and receive signals on a fixed frequency band. Recent research has raised the idea of cognitive radio, a RF communication system in which some devices are able to dynamically change the frequency over which they are communicating, so as to more efficiently use the entire RF spectrum. However, current technology relies on a bank of discrete front-end filters for signal filtering, such as bulk acoustic wave (BAW) devices, that can only operate over a limited number of frequencies.
This technology integrates arrays of lateral overmoded bulk acoustic resonators (LOBARs) directly on top of CMOS circuitry to create a high-performing filter array that spans multiple frequencies on a single wafer. This unique approach allows for the design of filters with a large range of frequencies from 100’s of MHz to 10 GHz on the same chip. This technology can be manufactured in a single post-CMOS fabrication step with a very small mask set and minimal parasitics between filters and RF circuits. Beyond facilitating the development of cognitive radio, this technology provides versatile and efficient filtering capabilities useful in a wide range of fields from biosensors to wireless communication. This technology is a robust, high-performing RF filtering technology that is compact, power-efficient, easily fabricated, and that can be reconfigured to allow for devices to dynamically optimize their communication frequency band.
Simulated models of this technology have exhibited filtering performance that favorably compares with commercial front-end filtering systems.
IR CU13371
Licensing Contact: Greg Maskel