MEMS microswitch arrays for reconfigurable distributed microwave components

Bozler, C.O.; Drangmeister, R.; Duffy, S.M.; Gouker, M.A.; Knecht, J.M.; Kushner, Lawrence J.; Parr, R.; Rabe, S.; Travis, L.

doi:10.1109/mwsym.2000.860909

Cited by 28 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…They have evolved into switches with better isolation, lower resistive loss, high power handling capability, and negligible power consumption promising beneficial utilization in many current and future RF spectra and in microwave and millimeter wave systems. The design of the RF MEMS series switches has reached a mature level, with many metal contact switches [5][6][7][8] available today.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design Aspects of a New Reliable Torsional Switch with Excellent RF Response

Gogna¹,

Jha²,

Gaba³

et al. 2016

Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials

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This paper proposes a metal contact RF MEMS switch which utilizes a see-saw mechanism to acquire a switching action. The switch was built on a quartz substrate and involves vertical deflection of the beam under an applied actuation voltage of 5.46 volts over a signal line. The see-saw mechanism relieves much of the operation voltage required to actuate the switch. The switch has a stiff beam eliminating any stray mechanical forces. The switch has an excellent isolation of -90.9 dB (compared to -58 dB in conventional designs [3]), the insertion of -0.2 dB, and a wide bandwidth of 88 GHz (compared to 40 GHz in conventional design [16]) making the switch suitable for wide band applications.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design Aspects of a New Reliable Torsional Switch with Excellent RF Response

Gogna¹,

Jha²,

Gaba³

et al. 2016

Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials

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“…The design of the RF MEMS series switch has matured over the years, with many series switches [1][2][3][4] available today. RF MEMS switches are an attractive replacement to the existing semiconductor switches, such as PIN diodes and GaAs FETs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Ultra Wideband, Novel and Reliable RF MEMS Switch

Jha¹,

Gogna²,

Gaba³

et al. 2016

Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials

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This paper presents the design and characterization of wide band ohmic microswitch with an actuation voltage as low as 20~25 V, and a restoring force of 14.1 μN. The design of the proposed switch is primarily composed of an electrostatic actuator, bridge membrane, cantilever (beam) and coplanar waveguide, suspended over the substrate. The analysis shows an insertion loss of -0.002 dB at 1GHz and remains as low as -0.35 dB, even at 100 GHz. The isolation loss of the switch is sustained at -21.09 dB at 100GHz, with a peak value of -99.58 dB at 1 GHz and up-state capacitance of 4 fF. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of a series contact switch, which works over a wide bandwidth (DC-100 GHz) and with such a high and sustained isolation, even at high frequencies and with an excellent figure of merit (f c =1/2.pi.Ron.Cu= 39.7 THz).

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“…Many ripened shunt and series designs are previously discussed [1][2][3] and [4][5][6]. But the switches are not limited to these two types (series and shunt).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Disparate Low Loss DC to 90 GHz Wideband Series Switch

Gogna¹,

Jha²,

Gaba³

et al. 2016

Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials

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This paper presents design and simulation of wide band RF microswitch that uses electrostatic actuation for its operation. RF MEMS devices exhibit superior high frequency performance in comparison to conventional devices. Similar techniques that are used in Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) can be employed to design and fabricate MEMS devices and traditional batch-processing methods can be used for its manufacturing. The proposed switch presents a novel design approach to handle reliability concerns in MEMS switches like dielectric charging effect, micro welding and stiction. The shape has been optimized at actuation voltage of 14-16 V. The switch has an improved restoring force of 20.8 μN. The design of the proposed switch is very elemental and primarily composed of electrostatic actuator, a bridge membrane and coplanar waveguide which are suspended over the substrate. The simple design of the switch makes it easy for fabrication. Typical insertion and isolation of the switch at 1 GHz is -0.03 dB and -71 dB and at 85 GHz it is -0.24 dB and -29.8 dB respectively. The isolation remains more than -20 db even after 120 GHz. To our knowledge this is the first demonstration of a metal contact switch that shows such a high and sustained isolation and performance at W-band frequencies with an excellent figure-of merit (fc=1/2.pi.Ron.Cu =1,900 GHz). This figure of merit is significantly greater than electronic switching devices. The switch would find extensive application in wideband operations and areas where reliability is a major concern.

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MEMS microswitch arrays for reconfigurable distributed microwave components

Cited by 28 publications

References 7 publications

Design Aspects of a New Reliable Torsional Switch with Excellent RF Response

Design Aspects of a New Reliable Torsional Switch with Excellent RF Response

An Ultra Wideband, Novel and Reliable RF MEMS Switch

A Disparate Low Loss DC to 90 GHz Wideband Series Switch

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