Monolithic integration of RF-MEMS and semiconductor devices for the K-band

Bück, Thomas; Reimann, Mathias; Ulm, Markus; Mueller-Fiedler, Roland; Seidel, Juergen; Kasper, E.; Schoellhorn, Claus; Haak, Stefan

doi:10.1117/12.479563

Cited by 4 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…Commonly used configurations of suspended MEMS transmission-line structures: (a) microshield structure with two bonded wafers and backside through-wafer etching [7]; (b) single-wafer frontside-etched microshield structure with vias on a thin membrane [8]; (c) single-wafer frontside-etched microshield structure without membrane; (d) suspended structure with/without dielectric support posts [21]; (e) fixed-fixed beam switch; and (f) down-state cantilever beam switch. and there is a wide variety of other RF microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) devices incorporating their structures, including LC passives [10], [11], filters [12], [13], power dividers [14], [15], mixers [16], [17], varactors [18], [19], couplers [20], [21], phase shifters [22], [23], resonators [24], [25], diplexers [24], oscillators [1], [24], parametric amplifiers [26], impedance tuners [27], [28], frequency selective surfaces [29], [30], and antennas [31], [32]. They can also take the form of moving beams to construct inline and shunt switches [22], [33], [34] as illustrated in Fig.…”

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confidence: 99%

Skin-Effect Self-Heating in Air-Suspended RF MEMS Transmission-Line Structures

Chow

Wang²,

Jensen

et al. 2006

J. Microelectromech. Syst.

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Air-suspension of transmission-line structures using microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology provides the effective means to suppress substrate losses for radio-frequency (RF) signals. However, heating of these lines augmented by skin effects can be a major concern for RF MEMS reliability. To understand this phenomenon, a thermal energy transport model is developed in a simple analytical form. The model accounts for skin effects that cause Joule heating to be localized near the surface of the RF transmission line. Here, the model is validated through experimental data by measuring the temperature rise in an air-suspended MEMS coplanar waveguide (CPW). For this measurement, a new experimental methodology is also developed allowing direct current (dc) electrical resistance thermometry to be adopted in an RF setup. The modeling and experimental work presented in this paper allow us to provide design rules for preventing thermal and structural failures unique to the RF operation of suspended MEMS transmission-line components. For example, increasing the thickness from 1 to 3 m for a typical transmission line design enhances power handling from 5 to 125 W at 20 GHz, 3.3 to 80 W at 50 GHz, and 2.3 to 56 W at 100 GHz (a 25-fold increase in RF power handling). [1737] Index Terms-Coplanar waveguides (CPWs), failure analysis, microelectromechanical devices, skin effect, transmission lines. I. INTRODUCTION L OW-LOSS and low-dispersion transmission-line structures are critical components in radio-frequency (RF)/microwave circuit design. Air-suspended transmission-line structures, with their suspension above the commonly used complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) or GaAs substrates, can serve as fundamental building blocks to achieve low-loss, low-noise signal transmission for monolithic integration of RF circuits and devices [1]-[5]. They often form microshield transmission lines [6]-[9] as shown in Fig. 1(a)-(c),

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