A rocking tune

A hybrid technology, which combines silicon MEMS and superconductor thin films, shows promise for tunable high-performance microwave circuits. Doped silicon has potential as a good low-loss dielectric material at cryogenic temperatures for device applications in frequency tuning and reconfiguration, UK-based researchers have shown. A team from the University of Birmingham demonstrated how their micromachined silicon rocking actuator can be used to tune a high temperature superconducting resonator without significantly affecting its Q factor.