Today’s wireless communications and information systems are heavily based on microwave technology. Current trends indicate that in the future along with - crowaves, the millimeter wave and Terahertz technologies will be used to meet the growing bandwidth and overall performance requirements. Moreover, motivated by the needs of the society, new industry sectors are gaining ground; such as wi- less sensor networks, safety and security systems, automotive, medical, envir- mental/food monitoring, radio tags etc. Furthermore, the progress and the pr- lems in the modern society indicate that in the future these systems have to be more user/consumer friendly, i. e. adaptable, reconfigurable and cost effective. The mobile phone is a typical example which today is much more than just a phone; it includes a range of new functionalities such as Internet, GPS, TV, etc. To handle, in a cost effective way, all available and new future standards, the growing n- ber of the channels and bandwidth both the mobile handsets and the associated systems have to be agile (adaptable/reconfigurable). The complex societal needs have initiated considerable activities in the field of cognitive and software defined radios and triggered extensive research in adequate components and technology platforms. To meet the stringent requirements of these systems, especially in ag- ity and cost, new components with enhanced performances and new functionalities are needed. In this sense the components based on ferroelectrics have greater - tential and already are gaining ground.

Describes the theory, modeling, and design of tunable mm-wave circuits and systems using CMOS, RF MEMS, and microwave liquid crystals.

Ceramic materials are inorganic and non-metallic porcelains, tiles, enamels, cements, glasses and refractory bricks. Today, "ceramics" has gained a wider meaning as a new generation of materials influence on our lives; electronics, computers, communications, aerospace and other industries rely on a number of their uses. In general, advanced ceramic materials include electro-ceramics, optoelectronic-ceramics, superconductive ceramics and the more recent development of piezoelectric and dielectric ceramics. They can be considered for their features including mechanical properties, decorative textures, environmental uses, energy applications, as well as their usage in bio-ceramics, composites, functionally graded materials, intelligent ceramics and so on. Advanced Ceramic Materials brings together a group of subject matter experts who describe innovative methodologies and strategies adopted in the research and development of the advanced ceramic materials. The book is written for readers from diverse backgrounds across chemistry, physics, materials science and engineering, medical science, pharmacy, environmental technology, biotechnology, and biomedical engineering. It offers a comprehensive view of cutting-edge research on ceramic materials and technologies. Divided into 3 parts concerning design, composites and functionality, the topics discussed include: Chemical strategies of epitaxial oxide ceramics nanomaterials Biphasic, triphasic and multiphasic calcium orthophosphates Microwave assisted processing of advanced ceramic composites Continuous fiber reinforced ceramic matrix composites Yytria and magnesia doped alumina ceramic Oxidation induced crack healing SWCNTs vs MWCNTs reinforcement agents Organic and inorganic wastes in clay brick production Functional tantalum oxides Application of silver tin research on hydroxyapatite

The book is focused on the use of functional oxide and nitride films to enlarge the application range of MEMS (microelectromechanical systems), including micro-sensors, micro-actuators, transducers, and electronic components for microwaves and optical communications systems. Applications, emerging applications, fabrication technology and functioning issues are presented and discussed. The book covers the following topics: Part A: Applications and devices with electroceramic-based MEMS: Chemical microsensors Microactuators based on thin films Micromachined ultrasonic transducers Thick-film piezoelectric and magnetostrictive devices Pyroelectric microsystems RF bulk acoustic wave resonators and filters High frequency tunable devices MEMS for optical functionality Part B: Materials, fabrication technology, and functionality: Ceramic thick films for MEMS Piezoelectric thin films for MEMS Materials and technology in thin films for tunable high frequency devices Permittivity, tunability and loss in ferroelectrics for reconfigurable high frequency electronics Microfabrication of piezoelectric MEMS Nano patterning methods for electroceramics Soft lithography emerging techniques The book is addressed to engineers, scientists and researchers of various disciplines, device engineers, materials engineers, chemists, physicists and microtechnologists who are working and/or interested in this fast growing and highly promising field. The publication of this book follows a Special Issue on electroceramic-based MEMS that was published in the Journal of Electroceramics at the beginning of 2004. The ten invited papers of that special issue were adapted by the authors into chapters of the present book and five additional chapters were added.

The interrelation among composition, microstructure, and properties of stoichiometric and nonstoichiometric compounds is a major field of research for both scientific and technological reasons. As such, this book focuses on metal oxides, which present a large diversity of electrical, magnetic, optical, optoelectronic, thermal, electrochemical, and catalytic properties, making them suitable for a wide range of applications. By bringing together scientific contributions with special emphasis on the interrelations between materials chemistry, processing, microstructures, and properties of stoichiometric and nonstoichiometric metal oxides, this book highlights the importance of tightly integrating high-throughput experiments (including both synthesis and characterization) and efficient and robust theory for the design of advanced materials.

This book investigates and discusses the hardware design and implementation to achieve smart air interfaces with a reduced number of Radio Frequency (RF) transmitter and receiver chains, or even with a single reconfigurable RF-Frontend in the user terminal. Various hardware challenges are identified and addressed to enable the implementation of autonomous reconfigurable RF-Frontend architectures. Such challenges are (i) the conception of a transceiver with wide tuning range of at least up to 6 GHz, (ii) the system integration of reconfigurable technologies targeting current compact devices that demand voltages up to 100 V for adaptive controlling and (iii) the realization of a multiband and multistandard antenna module employing agile components to provide flexible frequency coverage. A solid design of a reconfigurable frontend is proposed from the RF part to the digital baseband. The system integration of different components in the reconfigurable RF-Frontend of a portable-oriented device architecture is demonstrated.

This book presents and discusses alternatives to ordinary transmission lines for the design and implementation of advanced RF/microwave components in planar technology. This book is devoted to the analysis, study and applications of artificial transmission lines mostly implemented by means of a host line conveniently modified (e.g., with modulation of transverse dimensions, with etched patterns in the metallic layers, etc.) or with reactive loading, in order to achieve novel device functionalities, superior performance, and/or reduced size. The author begins with an introductory chapter dedicated to the fundamentals of planar transmission lines. Chapter 2 is focused on artificial transmission lines based on periodic structures (including non-uniform transmission lines and reactively-loaded lines), and provides a comprehensive analysis of the coupled mode theory. Chapters 3 and 4 are dedicated to artificial transmission lines inspired by metamaterials, or based on metamaterial concepts. These chapters include the main practical implementations of such lines and their circuit models, and a wide overview of their RF/microwave applications (including passive and active circuits and antennas). Chapter 5 focuses on reconfigurable devices based on tunable artificial lines, and on non-linear transmission lines. The chapter also introduces several materials and components to achieve tuning, including diode varactors, RF-MEMS, ferroelectrics, and liquid crystals. Finally, Chapter 6 covers other advanced transmission lines and wave guiding structures, such as electroinductive-/magnetoinductive-wave lines, common-mode suppressed balanced lines, lattice-network artificial lines, and substrate integrated waveguides. Artificial Transmission Lines for RF and Microwave Applications provides an in-depth analysis and discussion of artificial transmission lines, including design guidelines that can be useful to researchers, engineers and students.

To handle many standards and ever increasing bandwidth requirements, large number of filters and switches are used in transceivers of modern wireless communications systems. It makes the cost, performance, form factor, and power consumption of these systems, including cellular phones, critical issues. At present, the fixed frequency filter banks based on Film Bulk Acoustic Resonators (FBAR) are regarded as one of the most promising technologies to address performance -form factor-cost issues. Even though the FBARs improve the overall performances the complexity of these systems remains high. Attempts are being made to exclude some of the filters by bringing the digital signal processing (including channel selection) as close to the antennas as possible. However handling the increased interference levels is unrealistic for low-cost battery operated radios. Replacing fixed frequency filter banks by one tuneable filter is the most desired and widely considered scenario. As an example, development of the software based cognitive radios is largely hindered by the lack of adequate agile components, first of all tuneable filters. In this sense the electrically switchable and tuneable FBARs are the most promising components to address the complex cost-performance issues in agile microwave transceivers, smart wireless sensor networks etc. Tuneable Film Bulk Acoustic Wave Resonators discusses FBAR need, physics, designs, modelling, fabrication and applications. Tuning of the resonant frequency of the FBARs is considered. Switchable and tuneable FBARs based on electric field induced piezoelectric effect in paraelectric phase ferroelectrics are covered. The resonance of these resonators may be electrically switched on and off and tuned without hysteresis. The book is aimed at microwave and sensor specialists in the industry and graduate students. Readers will learn about principles of operation and possibilities of the switchable and tuneable FBARs, and will be given general guidelines for designing, fabrication and applications of these devices.

This book primarily covers the fundamental science, synthesis, characterization, optoelectronic properties, and applications of metal oxide nanomaterials. It discusses the basic aspects of synthetic procedures and fabrication technologies, explains the related experimental techniques and also elaborates on the current status of nanostructured oxide materials and related devices. Two major aspects of metal oxide nanostructures – their optical and electrical properties – are described in detail. The first five chapters focus on the optical characteristics of semiconducting materials, especially metal oxides at the nanoscale. The following five chapters discuss the electrical properties observed in metal oxide-based semiconductors and the status quo of device-level developments in a variety of applications such as sensors, transistors, dilute magnetic semiconductors, and dielectric materials. The basic science and mechanism behind the optoelectronic phenomena are explained in detail, to aid readers interested in the structure–property symbiosis in semiconducting nanomaterials. In short, the book offers a valuable reference guide for researchers and academics in the areas of material science and semiconductor technology, especially nanophotonics and electronics.