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 μm 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.