Impact of Humidity on Dielectric Charging in RF MEMS Capacitive Switches

Peng, Zhen; Palego, Cristiano; Hwang, J.C.M.; Forehand, David; Goldsmith, C. Franklin; Moody, Cody; Malczewski, A.; Pillans, B.; Daigler, R.; Papapolymerou, John

doi:10.1109/lmwc.2009.2017595

Cited by 46 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 2 publications

(1 reference statement)

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“…It affects the sensitivity of the switch isolation with higher C off . The authors also believe that switch performance could be improved further in hermetic condition to overcome the effect of surface charges trapped due to some residual humidity [21] and stiction as a result of the non-clean environment.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Extensive performance evaluations of RF MEMS single-pole-multi-throw (SP3T to SP14T) switches up to X-band frequency

Dey

Koul

Poddar

et al. 2016

J. Micromech. Microeng.

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This work presents wide range of compact and reliable single-pole-multi-throw (SPMT) radio frequency (RF) microelectromechanical system (MEMS) switches where the M (output) varies from 3 to 14 throws. The single dc-contact switch dimensions are 0.144 mm × 0.29 mm which are fabricated on 635 µm alumina substrate using a surface micromachining process. SPMT switching networks demonstrate a measured return loss of more than 14 dB, a worst case insertion loss of ~1.76 dB and isolation of ~14.5 dB up to 12 GHz. The maximum area of the fabricated SPMT switch is ~1.2 mm2. The SPMT switches are capable of handling 1 W of RF power up to >1 billion cycles at 25 °C, and sustained even up to >80 million cycles with 0.5 W at 85 °C. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first reported wide range of MEMS SPMT switches and their respective performance evaluations in the literature that has undergone extensive measurement stages.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Various types of RF MEMS SPMT switches have been reported by several research groups using different switch design techniques [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22]. All these switches are used for different applications at microwave to millimeter wave frequencies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Extensive performance evaluations of RF MEMS single-pole-multi-throw (SP3T to SP14T) switches up to X-band frequency

Dey

Koul

Poddar

et al. 2016

J. Micromech. Microeng.

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show abstract

“…The increase of charging temperature assists the charge trapping and the increase of discharging temperature leads to an increase in the magnitude of the bulk discharge current [ 71 ]. Zhen et al [ 72 ] studied the impact of humidity on dielectric charging in RF MEMS capacitive switches and found that bulk charging dominated in dry air, but surface charging increased linearly with increasing humidity. Zaghloul et al [ 73 ] found that thinner dielectric films had larger induced surface potential, which lead to higher charge trapping; thus, thicker dielectric films would be better for less dielectric charging.…”

Section: The Research Status Of Mems Switches In Different Frequenmentioning

confidence: 99%

Research and Analysis of MEMS Switches in Different Frequency Bands

Tian

Yuan

2018

Micromachines

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Due to their high isolation, low insertion loss, high linearity, and low power consumption, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) switches have drawn much attention from researchers in recent years. In this paper, we introduce the research status of MEMS switches in different bands and several reliability issues, such as dielectric charging, contact failure, and temperature instability. In this paper, some of the following methods to improve the performance of MEMS switches in high frequency are summarized: (1) utilizing combinations of several switches in series; (2) covering a float metal layer on the dielectric layer; (3) using dielectric layer materials with high dielectric constants and conductor materials with low resistance; (4) developing MEMS switches using T-match and π-match; (5) designing MEMS switches based on bipolar complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (BiCMOS) technology and reconfigurable MEMS’ surfaces; (6) employing thermal compensation structures, circularly symmetric structures, thermal buckle-beam actuators, molybdenum membrane, and thin-film packaging; (7) selecting Ultra-NanoCrystalline diamond or aluminum nitride dielectric materials and applying a bipolar driving voltage, stoppers, and a double-dielectric-layer structure; and (8) adopting gold alloying with carbon nanotubes (CNTs), hermetic and reliable packaging, and mN-level contact.

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“…The most common actuation schemes for such MEMS devices are based on the electrostatic forces. While the electrostatic actuators virtually do not consume DC power, they generally impose reliability challenges due to stiction [7,8] and dielectric charging [9,10]. Another major drawback lies in the inevitable response hysteresis, which leads to uncertainty in the capacitance values obtained.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reconfigurable MEMS latching-type capacitors for high power applications

Aziz

Bakri-Kassem

Mansour

2018

J. Micromech. Microeng.

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This paper reports the design and characterization of two reconfigurable MEMS discrete capacitor banks for high power and low frequency applications. The first design is a 3-bit capacitor bank built using three parallel-connected series-switched comb-drive capacitors with appropriately scaled values. The second design is a compact discretized comb-drive varactor that can be operated as 2-bit or 3-bit capacitor bank depending on the number of latched states. Both devices are demonstrated using the METALMUMP process where 20 µm-thick plated nickel is the only structural and metal layer. The MEMS switches use thermal actuation with chevron actuator design. This allows for large displacements at relatively low actuation voltages. Using mechanical latching for both designs, the switch reconfiguration energy is minimized. The relatively very high mechanical stiffness inherent to both thermal actuator designs provides an excellent immunity to self-actuation at high RF power levels. The proposed MEMS switches are capable of operating under low-pressure conditions (e.g. in a package), without degradation of their thermo-mechanical performance.

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Impact of Humidity on Dielectric Charging in RF MEMS Capacitive Switches

Cited by 46 publications

References 2 publications

Extensive performance evaluations of RF MEMS single-pole-multi-throw (SP3T to SP14T) switches up to X-band frequency

Extensive performance evaluations of RF MEMS single-pole-multi-throw (SP3T to SP14T) switches up to X-band frequency

Research and Analysis of MEMS Switches in Different Frequency Bands

Reconfigurable MEMS latching-type capacitors for high power applications

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