Ultra-Miniature

If the size and weight of a filter are your prime considerations, MEMtronics can optimize your filter to be ultra-miniature in size. For applications considering or utilizing metal waveguide filter technology, MEMtronics integrated filters typically possess 50x smaller volume and 100x smaller weight than the comparable metal waveguide filters. This significantly reduces the size and weight of your filter assemblies that incorporate MEMtronics’ filters.

As an example, a typical four-pole Ka-band waveguide filter, manufactured out of WR22 metal waveguide, would occupy a size of 19 x 19 x 38 mm with a volume of 5600 mm³. A similar four-pole filter at a similar frequency constructed with MEMtronics integrated waveguide technology, will occupy a size of 6 x 24 x 0.8 mm with a volume of 110 mm³. While the performance of the integrated waveguide filter is less than that of the metal waveguide filter, the 110x smaller weight and 50x smaller volume provide significant advantages for constructing microwave modules for applications where size and weight are at a premium.

Though the filter above is far smaller than competing waveguide technology, it is far from the smallest filters that MEMtronics manufactures. Implementing a filter using evanescent integrated waveguide technology allows even further shrinkage of filter size. The image below demonstrates two examples of filters MEMtronics has created with < 10 mm3 total volume. The filter on the left is a broadband thirteen-pole Ka-band bandpass filter with dimensions of 10.7 x 1.8 x 0.51 mm, 9.8 mm³ of volume. The filter on the right is a six-pole narrowband Ku-band bandpass filter with dimensions of 5.9 x 0.8 x 0.76 mm, 3.6 mm³ of volume (our smallest filter yet).

In production, MEMtronics utilizes semiconductor batch fabrication to make and tune our filters for optimum performance, utilizing the economies of scale to produce them in a cost-effective manner. (image of over 100 K-band filters being processed on a single 150mm wafer).

Let MEMtronics review your filter requirements and provide a free quotation.