Thermally Actuated Latching RF MEMS Switch and Its Characteristics

Daneshmand, Mojgan; Fouladi, Siamak; Mansour, Raafat R.; Lisi, Mario; Stajcer, T.

doi:10.1109/tmtt.2009.2033866

Cited by 70 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Once actuated, these devices consume minimal power to hold this state, as a dynamic current flow occurs exclusively during actuation [11], with typical overall power consumption resulting from charging and leakages of 0.05 to 0.1 mW [12]. In the case of thermal [13,14] and electromagnetic [15][16][17] actuators, however, the actuated state may require a constant current supply if the devices do not have an integrated latching mechanism of any nature (see [18][19][20] for examples of latching electrothermal MEMS switches, and Section 4 for examples of latching magnetic MEMS switches).…”

Section: Low Power Consumptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrated Magnetic MEMS Relays: Status of the Technology

2014

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Abstract:The development and application of magnetic technologies employing microfabricated magnetic structures for the production of switching components has generated enormous interest in the scientific and industrial communities over the last decade. Magnetic actuation offers many benefits when compared to other schemes for microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), including the generation of forces that have higher magnitude and longer range. Magnetic actuation can be achieved using different excitation sources, which create challenges related to the integration with other technologies, such as CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor), and the requirement to reduce power consumption. Novel designs and technologies are therefore sought to enable the use of magnetic switching architectures in integrated MEMS devices, without incurring excessive energy consumption. This article reviews the status of magnetic MEMS technology and presents devices recently developed by various research groups, with key focuses on integrability and effective power management, in addition to the ability to integrate the technology with other microelectronic fabrication processes.

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Section: Low Power Consumptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrated Magnetic MEMS Relays: Status of the Technology

2014

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“…Most MEMS actuators operate by electrostatic [1], electrothermal [2][3][4], electromagnetic [5] or piezoelectric actuation. Electrostatic actuators generally require large compliant structures and can only deliver a limited amount of force.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As the thermal expansion of the active member in a thermal actuator is very small, a displacement amplification mechanism is usually needed. This amplification can be obtained using a V-shaped (chevron) actuator [4,10] or a heatuator-like actuator [2,3,11], for example. Both types of actuators are relatively long and using them in a latching switch generally results in a large L-shaped switch taking up a lot of chip area (Fig.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Compact thermally actuated latching MEMS switch with large contact force

Dellaert

Doutreloigne

2015

Electron. lett.

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A novel latching microelectromechanical system (MEMS) switch is reported, which uses a compact configuration of thermal actuators. In the proposed latching mechanism, the necessary displacement of one of the contacts can be reduced, allowing the use of a linear thermal actuator. This linear actuator together with a V-shaped actuator can be aligned next to each other, requiring less area than the classical latching switch design. Another advantage of the proposed design is the high contact force of 1.33 mN, ensuring a stable contact resistance. The latching switch was fabricated in the Metal multi-user MEMS processes (MUMPs) technology and its functionality was successfully tested. In the latched state, a switch resistance of 0.6 Ω was measured

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“…Electro-thermal actuators are capable of producing higher forces at lower voltage inputs than electrostatic actuators, however this comes at a cost of higher power consumption [4,5]. Thermal actuators have been used in various applications, such as 3D optical switching [6], micro-engines [7], on-chip nanomechanical testing [8], switching in RF MEMS [9], and various other applications [10,11]. Another bent-beam actuator that attempts to improve on the chevron actuator by making it also work as a linear force sensor is the z-shaped actuator [12]; however, kink and chevron actuators produce displacements which are an order of magnitude higher.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterization of Kink Actuators as Compared to Traditional Chevron Shaped Bent-Beam Electrothermal Actuators

2012

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This paper compares the design and performance of kink actuators, a modified version of the bent-beam thermal actuator, to the standard chevron-shaped designs. A variety of kink and chevron actuator designs were fabricated from polysilicon. While the actuators were electrically probed, these designs were tested using a probe station connected to a National Instruments (NI) controller that uses LabVIEW to extract the displacement results via image processing. The displacement results were then used to validate the thermal-electric-structural simulations produced by COMSOL. These results, in turn, were used to extract the stiffness for both actuator types. The data extracted show that chevron actuators can have larger stiffness values with increasing offsets, but at the cost of lower amplification factors. In contrast, kink actuators showed a constant stiffness value equivalent to the chevron actuator with the highest amplification factor. The kink actuator also had larger amplification factors than chevrons at all designs tested. Therefore, kink actuators are capable of longer throws at lower power levels than the standard chevron designs.

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Thermally Actuated Latching RF MEMS Switch and Its Characteristics

Cited by 70 publications

References 13 publications

Integrated Magnetic MEMS Relays: Status of the Technology

Integrated Magnetic MEMS Relays: Status of the Technology

Compact thermally actuated latching MEMS switch with large contact force

Characterization of Kink Actuators as Compared to Traditional Chevron Shaped Bent-Beam Electrothermal Actuators

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