Micromachined DC contact capacitive switch on low-resistivity silicon substrate

Yu, Aibing; Liu, A.Q.; Zhang, Q.X.; Alphones, Arokiaswami; Hosseini, Habib Mir M.

doi:10.1016/j.sna.2005.11.011

Cited by 17 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…9, the insertion loss increases and the isolation decreases with the increasing of the surface roughness of the capacitance area. In order to avoid the down-state capacitance degradation and to achieve broadband capacitive switch, an innovated DC-contact capacitive shunt switch was developed [14]. In this design, the dielectric layer is shifted onto the grounds of a CPW transmission line, as shown in Fig.…”

Section: Capacitive Switchesmentioning

confidence: 99%

RF MEMS Switches and Integrated Switching Circuits

Liu

2010

MEMS Reference Shelf

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Abstract-Radio frequency (RF) microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) have been pursued for more than a decade as a solution of high-performance on-chip fixed, tunable and reconfigurable circuits. This paper reviews our research work on RF MEMS switches and switching circuits in the past five years. The research work first concentrates on the development of lateral DC-contact switches and capacitive shunt switches. Low insertion loss, high isolation and wide frequency band have been achieved for the two types of switches; then the switches have been integrated with transmission lines to achieve different switching circuits, such as single-pole-multi-throw (SPMT) switching circuits, tunable band-pass filter, tunable band-stop filter and reconfigurable filter circuits. Substrate transfer process and surface planarization process are used to fabricate the above mentioned devices and circuits. The advantages of these two fabrication processes provide great flexibility in developing different types of RF MEMS switches and circuits. The ultimate target is to produce more powerful and sophisticated wireless appliances operating in handsets, base stations, and satellites with low power consumption and cost.

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Section: Capacitive Switchesmentioning

confidence: 99%

RF MEMS Switches and Integrated Switching Circuits

Liu

2010

MEMS Reference Shelf

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“…Here, the Young's modulus of Al is 69GPa, Poisson's ratio is 0.31, shear modulus is 26.32GPa, x-axis moment of inertia is 13.33µm 4 . As shown in Table I and Fig.…”

Section: A Spring Constantmentioning

confidence: 99%

CMOS Compatible RF MEMS Switches with Serpentine Springs

et al. 2009

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This paper describes a serpentine flexure spring design and fabrication process development for radio frequency microelectromechanical (RF MEMS) capacitive switches with coplanar waveguide (CPW) lines. Sputtered tungsten is employed as the CPW line conductor instead of Au, a non-Si compatible material. The bridge membrane is fabricated from Al. The materials and fabrication process can be integrated with CMOS and SOI technology to reduce cost. Results show the MEMS switch has excellent performance with insertion loss 0.3dB, return loss -27dB at 30GHz and high isolation -30dB at 40GHz. The process developed promises to simplify the design and fabrication of RF MEMS on silicon.

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“…However, the capacitive switch often suffers from the problem of substrate loss; the limited on/off capacitance ratio due to the small distance between the two electrodes; and the down-state capacitance degradation problem, which is caused by the nonplanar property of the metal bridge, the roughness of the contact area, and the existence of the etching holes in the metal bridge. Recently, a capacitive switch built on a high resistive substrate was reported by Yu et al It solves the substrate loss problem and the down-state capacitance degradation problem by using a dielectric layer on the ground pad [6]. But the high resistive substrate is expensive, and the process is complex.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design and simulation of a thermally actuated MEMS switch for microwave circuits

Zhang

Zaghloul

2009

Int J RF and Microwave Comp Aid Eng

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The design, modeling, and optimization of a novel, thermally actuated CMOS-MEMS switch are presented in this article. This series capacitive MEMS switch solves the substrate loss and down-state capacitance degradation problems commonly plaguing MEMS switches. The switch uses finger structure for capacitive coupling. The vertical bending characteristic of bimorph cantilever beams under different temperatures is utilized to turn the switch on and off. A set of electrical, mechanical, and thermal models is established, and cross-domain electro-thermo-mechanical simulations are performed to optimize the design parameters of the switch. The fabrication of the switch is completely CMOS-process compatible. The design is fabricated using the AMI 0.6 lm CMOS process and a maskless reactive-ion etching process. The measured results show the insertion loss and isolation are 1.67 and 33 dB, respectively, at 5.4 GHz, and 0.36 and 23 dB at 10 GHz. The actuation voltage is 25 V and the power consumption is 480 mW. This switch has a vast number of applications in the RF/microwave field, such as configurable voltage control oscillators, filters, and configurable matching networks.

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Micromachined DC contact capacitive switch on low-resistivity silicon substrate

Cited by 17 publications

References 5 publications

RF MEMS Switches and Integrated Switching Circuits

RF MEMS Switches and Integrated Switching Circuits

CMOS Compatible RF MEMS Switches with Serpentine Springs

Design and simulation of a thermally actuated MEMS switch for microwave circuits

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