A Fully Integrated Switched Capacitor using Low Temperature and Wet Release Process for Reconfigurable CMOS Triple-band Power Amplifier

Abstract

A radiofrequency micro-electro-mechanical systems (RF MEMS) switched capacitor is presented for the development of reconfigurable power amplifier (PA) which can select the frequency band of 0.9 GHz / 1.8 GHz / 2.4 GHz. The proposed switched capacitor was successfully fabricated by using low temperature and wet release process which can be vertically integrated with CMOS PA. The fabricated RF MEMS switched capacitor exhibited a capacitance of about 4.8 pF at the frequency of 0.9 GHz and it was used in output matching network of power amplifier to enable triple band. Fully assembled reconfigurable PA with the switched capacitor was successfully demonstrated by mounting it on the PCB test board and it provided the output power of 24.6 dBm, 27. 3 dBm, and 27. 9 dBm at 0.9 GHz, 1.8 GHz, and 2.4 GHz, respectively.