Acoustic band gap filter designs as a potential future RF MEMS technology: An introduction to fractal silicon-based ABG filters

An introduction to acoustic band gap RF MEMS filters is given. These devices have the potential to enable integration of accurate fully solid state acoustic filtering that rival traditional surface acoustic wave filters, but which can be fully integrated into a silicon integrated circuit without requiring piezoelectric phenomenon. Newly developed two and three dimensional simulators are shown using full vector finite difference time domain method that can be used to explore and design the frequency responses of this new class of filter for potential silicon based applications. As an example, the impact of fractal inclusion geometries on filter frequency response using silicon compatible materials is explored.