High-Q Tunable Filters and High Efficiency Charge Pumps

The supply voltages of modern baseband digital integrated circuits are well below the required actuation voltages for the MEMS tunable filters. Therefore, a charge pump is used to achieve the required high actuation voltage for the MEMS devices. Current state-of-the-art charge pump designs produce output voltage ripples as high as 1 V, which has adverse effects on filter performance, and this is a critical technology gap. The proposed technology will close this gap by delivering two Integrated Circuits (ICs), a high-efficiency charge pump with low-ripple output and a filter design that is immune to bias noise (caused by the ripple).

There are many commercial markets for high-Q tunable filters and high-efficiency charge pumps. Electronics for personal wireless communications and industrial automation are becoming increasingly congested requiring co-existence of hardware that operate at multiple frequency bands. Military and Civil Aviation systems always required use of multiple frequencies and the new push to reduce footprint present great challenges. All these requirements can only be effectively managed by efficient tunable filter technology.

NASA has invested in S-Band wireless communication with software defined radio (SDR) and smart antennas. One of the critical technology gaps in implementation and rollout of the SDR is the tunable filters and inefficient offering of the current state-of-the-art. The proposed work closes this gap by innovative tuning mechanisms that include low-power low-ripple charge pumps.

This is early/mid-stage (TRL 3) — the most realistic path in is NASA SBIR/STTR, which funds small businesses and research institutions to develop technology aligned with NASA's needs (equity-free, phased funding). Check whether a current SBIR/STTR solicitation topic overlaps with this project's technology area, or contact the project directly (above) to ask.

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