Design and Fabrication of Switchable Superconducting Microstrip “T” Resonator with a MEM Switch

Noel

Martínez

et al. 2005

In earlier work a capacitively shunted superconducting MicroElectroMechanical (MEM) switch has been designed and fabricated. The switch is composed of high temperature superconducting (HTS) YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7 coplanar waveguide structure with a gold bridge membrane suspended above an area of the center conductor covered with BaTiO 3 dielectric. The switch demonstrated an insertion loss of less than 0.007 dB with 30 dB isolation at 3 GHz. These switches have been shown to be viable, however, issues of the dielectric material deposition and gold bridge release process posed limitations on the yield and switch cycling. In this work we report on the issues encountered and improvements made in the development of HTS MEMS switches for use in tunable RF devices.

Section: Fabrication Issues and Switch Improvementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The switch has been integrated into several variations of HTS RF "T" resonators to change the tap position (open/short), or to switch in/out a resonating length of transmission line from the signal path [9]- [12]. Thus the action of the switch, in effect, tunes the output response.…”

Section: Switch Testingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of Parameters of Fabrication on Quality and Performance of Superconducting MEM Switches

Noel

Martínez

et al. 2005

“…First, a half wavelength microstrip transmission line was capacitively connected to a transmission line through a switch, forming a switchable "T" resonator with a center frequency of 3.5 GHz [8]- [10]. Second, a microstrip "T" resonator termination (at its base) was changed from ungrounded to grounded using a switch, changing a notch position in the system response from 4 to 2 GHz [11], [12].…”

Section: A Previous Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design and Fabrication of Two Switch Superconducting Microstrip Hairpin Filters Using Series MEMS Switches

Vargas

Noel

et al. 2007

A superconductor circuit based on series MicroElectro-Mechanical (MEM) switches is utilized to switch between two bandpass hairpin filters with 200 MHz bandwidth and nominal center frequencies of 2.1 GHz and 2.6 GHz. This is accomplished using 4 switches actuated in pairs, one pair at a time. When one pair is actuated the first bandpass filter is coupled to the input and output ports. When the other pair is actuated the second bandpass filter is coupled to the input and output ports, thus corresponding output responses are obtained.The device is made of YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7 thin film deposited on a 20 mm 20 mm LaAlO 3 substrate by pulsed laser deposition. BaTiO 3 deposited by RF magnetron sputtering is utilized as the insulation layer at the switching points of contact. Fabrication details are discussed along with simulation data and test results.

“…Process of switch fabrication was described in detail in [9]. Four different masks are used in the multi-step photolithographic procedure.…”

Section: B Fabricationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Elastic Modulus Study of Gold Thin Film for Use as an Actuated Membrane in a Superconducting RF MEM Switch

Bogozi

Datye

et al. 2005

In earlier work a capacitively shunted superconducting MicroElectroMechanical (MEM) switch was designed and fabricated. The switch is composed of a superconducting YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7 coplanar waveguide structure with a Au bridge membrane suspended above an area of the center conductor covered with BaTiO 3 dielectric. The Au membrane is actuated by the electrostatic attractive force acting between transmission line and the membrane when voltage is applied. The value of the actuation force will greatly depend on the geometry and mechanical properties of the bridge material. Since Young's modulus characterizes the elastic properties of a material which is temperature dependent, it is important to find the effect of low temperature especially below the transition temperature of the superconductor in order to better understand the switch operation. Our results show that the elastic modulus for Au thin film at cryogenic temperature is 470 times bigger than it is at room temperature.