Photodefinable Metal Oxide Dielectrics: A Novel Method for Fabricating Low Cost RF Capacitive MEMS Switches

Abstract

In this paper, a novel approach for fabricating low cost capacitive RF MEMS switches using directly photodefinable high dielectric constant metal oxides has been developed. In this approach, a radiation sensitive metal-organic precursor is deposited via spin coating and converted patternwise to a high dielectric constant metal oxide via ultraviolet exposure. The feasibility of this approach is demonstrated by fabricating bridge-type and cantilever-type switches with a nitride/metal-oxide/nitride dielectric film stack. These switches exhibited significantly higher isolation and load capacitances as compared to comparable switches fabricated using a simple silicon nitride dielectric.