Application of RF MEMS variable capacitors and switches in aperture tuned antenna design

Smart phone industrial design trends such as thinner form factors and larger displays, coupled with increasing frequency coverage such as B71 in North America, have driven designers to use antenna aperture tuning techniques to meet performance requirement. To extract the highest efficiency from an aperture tuned antenna the tuning element must meet certain key performance characteristics. This presentation shows several examples of aperture tuned antennas with variable capacitance and variable inductance and identifies the key performance parameters and trade-offs for each tuning configuration.