18 - RF-MEMS for smart communication systems and future 5G applications

Abstract

Radio frequency microelectromechanical system(RF-MEMS) technology is suitable for the realization of high-performance reconfigurable wideband radio-frequency passives. The main open issues, i.e., reliability, power handling, packaging, and integration, were effectively addressed across the last 10–15years, making RF-MEMS technology readiness compatible with commercial applications. From a different perspective, the landscape of 4G-LTE smartphones started to outline the surfacing of performance demands that can be fully addressed by RF-MEMS solutions, i.e., an emerging market-pull rather than technology-push driven scenario. As a result, impedance tuners started to be the first successful commercial exploitation of RF-MEMS technology. Moreover, the upcoming 5G communication standards seem to be the field in which most part of the RF-MEMS value could be extracted. In this chapter, a broad overview on RF-MEMS technology is provided, sketching 15years of significant achievements reached by the research community, and providing an outlook on future exploitation of such a promising solution.