MEMS Electrostatically Driven Coupled Beam Filter Banks

MEMS bandpass filters based on electrostatically driven, mechanically coupled beams with in-plane motion have been demonstrated up to the VHF band. Filters higher than second order with parallel plate drives have inherent tuning difficulties, which may be resolved by adding mass-loaded beams to the ends of the array. These beams deflect for DC voltages, and thus allow synchronized electrostatic tuning, but do not respond to in-band AC voltages and hence do not interfere with dynamic synchronization. Additional out-of-band responses may be damped, leaving the desired response. The principle is extended here to close-packed banks of filters, with adjacent arrays sharing mass-loaded beams that localize modes to sub-arrays. The operating principles are explained using a lumped element model (LEM) of the equations of motion in terms of resonant modes and the reflection of acoustic waves at discontinuities. Performance is simulated using the LEM and verified using the more realistic stiffness matrix method (SMM) for banks of up to eight filters. Similar or dissimilar filters may be combined in a compact arrangement, and the method may be extended to higher order resonances and alternative coupled resonator systems.