A Discriminating Discussion of RF-MEMS

This book offers a unique bottom-up perspective of a technology for the manufacturing of low-complexity hardware components, which elevates this to a key enabling technology of 6G and future networks. This MEMS-based technology enables the fabrication of highly miniaturized, high-performance, widely tunable/reconfigurable and frequency agile passives, among which are low-loss/high-isolation micro-switches, multi-state RF power attenuators, delay lines and impedance tuners, high-order switching matrices, tunable filters, and more. The ultimate target of the book is increasing awareness of RF-MEMS technology and its possibilities, breaking the usual boundaries of the restricted scientific community dedicated to microsystems, and engaging scientists, developers and enthusiasts involved in other fields of technology. This includes 6G and future networks, as well as the unprecedented bottom-up design and conceptualization approaches that will be crucial to turn such paradigms into reality. The book addresses a broad audience, both technical and non-technical, spread across multiple modern disciplines, encompassing microelectronics, micro-technologies, telecommunications, RF and microwave engineering.

Jacopo Iannacci (Senior Member, IEEE) was born in Bologna, Italy, in 1977. He received an M.Sc. (Laurea) degree in electronics engineering from the University of Bologna, Italy, in 2003, and a Ph.D. in information and telecommunications technology from the University of Bologna, Italy, in 2007. He received Habilitation as Full Professor in Electronics from the Italian Ministry of University and Research (MUR), in 2021. He worked in 2005 and 2006 as visiting researcher at the DIMES Technology Center (currently Else Kooi Lab) of the Technical University of Delft, the Netherlands, focusing on the development of innovative packaging and integration technology solutions for RF-MEMS devices. In 2016, he visited, as a seconded researcher, the Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration IZM in Berlin, Germany, to conduct high-frequency characterization of RF-MEMS components jointly with the RF & Smart Sensor Systems Department at IZM. Since 2007, he has been a researcher (permanent staff) at the Center for Sensors & Devices of Fondazione Bruno Kessler, in Trento, Italy. His research interests and experience fall in the areas of the finite element method (FEM) multi-physics modelling, compact (analytical) modeling, design, optimization, integration, packaging, experimental characterization and testing for reliability of MEMS and RF-MEMS devices and networks for sensors and actuators, energy harvesting (EH-MEMS) and telecommunication systems, with applications in the fields of 5G, Internet of Things (IoT), as well as 6G, Tactile Internet (TI) and Super-IoT. Dr. Iannacci has authored more than 160 scientific contributions, including international journal papers, conference proceedings, books, book chapters and one patent. He is Associate Editor of the Springer Microsystem Technologies, Series Editor of the IEEE Communications Magazine (ComMag), and was Distinguished Lecturer of the IEEE Communications Society (ComSoc) for 2025-2026.

1. Introduction 2. Understanding RF-MEMS - An Essential Kit for Fundamental Notions 3. A Brief History of MEMS and RF-MEMS 4. An Essential Review of Reviews of RF-MEMS 5. RF-MEMS Versus Market 6. Critical Discussion of RF-MEMS and Lessons Learned 7. RF-MEMS Entrepreneurship - An Important Legacy 8. Future Perspectives