A frequency‐agile microstrip patch antenna is presented. A micromachined membrane is used as the ground plane below the antenna patch. Actuation of this membrane introduces an air gap between above the ground plane, and enables control of the antenna‐resonant frequency from 16.8 to 17.82 GHz (approximately 6% variation). © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 43: 64–67, 2004; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.20376

This paper presents the design, fabrication and testing of a novel electrostatically actuated capacitive shunt switch for X-band applications. By introducing warped bimetallic beams within the switch's geometry, the effective capacitive area is optimized to fine-tune the switch's RF performance in the 'off' state without influencing the switch's 'on' state performance. As a result, measurements show a drastic improvement where the down-state capacitance is doubled and the up-state capacitance is halved. Using this technique, a dualwarped switch with an off-to-on capacitive ratio of almost 170 is achieved without the need for thin dielectrics or high dielectric constant materials, exhibiting excellent RF performance and mechanical reliability.

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