Microelectromechanical tunable inductor

Patent · Tue May 04 00:00:00 EDT 2010

OSTI ID:985228

Stalford, Harold L ^[1]; Hietala, Vincent M ^[2]; Fleming, James G ^[2]

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1. Norman, OK
2. Albuquerque, NM

A microelectromechanical tunable inductor is formed from a pair of substantially-identically-sized coils arranged side by side and coiled up about a central axis which is parallel to a supporting substrate. An in-plane stress gradient is responsible for coiling up the coils which. The inductance provided by the tunable inductor can be electrostatically changed either continuously or in discrete steps using electrodes on the substrate and on each coil. The tunable inductor can be formed with processes which are compatible with conventional IC fabrication so that, in some cases, the tunable inductor can be formed on a semiconductor substrate alongside or on top of an IC.

• Research Organization: Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), Albuquerque, NM, and Livermore, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC04-94AL85000
• Assignee: Sandia Corporation (Albuquerque, NM)
• Patent Number(s): 7,710,232
• Application Number: 11/746,147
• OSTI ID: 985228
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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