We describe a microelectromechanical (MEM) relay technology for high-performance reconfigurable RF circuits. This microrelay, fabricated using surface micromachining, is a metal contact relay with electrical isolation between signal and drive lines. This relay provides excellent switching performance over a broad frequency band (insertion loss of 0.1 dB and isolation of 30 dB at 40 GHz), versatility in switch circuit configurations (microstrip and coplanar, shunt and series), and the capability for monolithic integration with high-frequency electronics. In addition, this MEM relay technology has demonstrated yields and lifetimes that are promising for RF circuit implementation.
RF MEMS switches have been successfully integrated with HEMT MMIC circuits on a GaAs substrate to construct a dual-path power amplifier at X-band. The amplifier uses two MEMS switches at the input to guide the RF signal between two paths. Each path provides single-stage amplification using different size HEMT devices, one with 80-m width and the other with 640-m. Depending on the required output power level, one of the two paths is selected to minimize the dc power consumption. Measurements showed the amplifier producing similar small signal gains of 13.2 and 11.5 dB at 10 GHz for the small and the large devices, respectively. The best PAE was 28.1 percent with 8.5 dBm of output power for the small device, and 15.3 percent with 14.6 dBm for the large device.
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