500-750 GHz submillimeter-wave MEMS waveguide switch

Shah, Umer; Reck, Theodore; Decrossas, Emmanuel; Jung-Kubiak, Cecile; Frid, Henrik; Chattopadhyay, Goutam; Mehdi, Imran; Oberhammer, J.

doi:10.1109/mwsym.2016.7540087

Cited by 10 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…An alternative approach utilizes a reconfigurable surface placed in the cross section of the waveguide [2]. At W-band this device showed low losses of 0.65 dB, but scaling to higher frequencies the presence of the comb in the waveguide could incur significant insertion loss and degrade the return loss of the switch [3].…”

Section: R F Microelectromechanical Systems (Rf-mems) Devicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

A 700-GHz MEMS Waveguide Switch

Reck

Jung-Kubiak

Chattopadhyay

2016

IEEE Trans. THz Sci. Technol.

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A low-loss microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) waveguide reflect switch is demonstrated operating across the WM-380 (WR-1.5) waveguide band. The design uses a large deflection MEMS actuator to mechanically obstruct a reduced height waveguide to create the switch. The MEMS device exhibits 3 dB of insertion loss across the band in the open state, over 20 dB of isolation when closed, and better than 20 dB of return loss. Lifetime testing of this device demonstrates 5.07 million cycles before it failed in the closed state. Index Terms-Reflect switch, RF microelectromechanical systems (RF-MEMS), silicon micromachining.

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Section: R F Microelectromechanical Systems (Rf-mems) Devicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

A 700-GHz MEMS Waveguide Switch

Reck

Jung-Kubiak

Chattopadhyay

2016

IEEE Trans. THz Sci. Technol.

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“…To the best knowledge of the authors, the RF MEMS switch reported here is the first RF MEMS switch above 220 GHz [21] and the first MEMS waveguide switch above 75 GHz. Very recently, another MEMS waveguide switch operating between 500 to 750 GHz based on a ridge waveguide using an electrostatic actuator was reported [22] and our conference publication [20] was referenced as the first MEMS waveguide switch at these frequencies by that paper.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This MEMS reconfigurable surface waveguide switch concept is very broadband, as the bandwidth is only limited by the waveguide-modes cutoff. The authors have reported, in a recent conference publication [20], the basic concept of this MEMS waveguide switch at WM-380 (WR-1.5) frequencies. This paper is an extension of the conference publication and discusses the switch design in detail and present new measurement data (both electromechanical and RF).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A 500–750 GHz RF MEMS Waveguide Switch

Shah

Reck

Frid

et al. 2017

IEEE Trans. THz Sci. Technol.

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This paper reports on a submillimeter-wave 500-750 GHz MEMS waveguide switch based on a MEMSreconfigurable surface to block/unblock the wave propagation through the waveguide. In the non-blocking state the electromagnetic wave can pass freely through the MEMS-reconfigurable surface while in the blocking state the electric field lines of the TE10 mode are short circuited which blocks the wave propagation through a WM-380 (WR-1.5) waveguide. A detailed design parameter study is carried out to determine the best combination of the number of horizontal bars and vertical columns of the MEMS-reconfigurable surface for achieving a low insertion loss in the non-blocking state and a high isolation in the blocking state for the 500-750 GHz band. Two different switch concepts relying on either an ohmic-contact or a capacitive-contact between the contact cantilevers have been implemented. The measurements of the switch prototypes show a superior RF performance of the capacitive-contact switch. The measured isolation of the capacitive-contact switch designed with 8 µm contact overlap is 19 to 24 dB and the measured insertion loss in the non-blocking state is 2.5 to 3 dB from 500-750 GHz including a 400 µm long micromachined waveguide section. By measuring reference chips, it is shown that the MEMS-reconfigurable surface contributes only to 0.5 to 1 dB of the insertion loss while the rest is attributed to the limited sidewall metal thickness and to the surface roughness of the 400 µm long micromachined waveguide section. Finally, reliability measurements in an uncontrolled laboratory environment on a comb-drive actuator with an actuation voltage of 28 V showed no degradation in the functioning of the actuator over one hundred million cycles. The actuator was also kept in the actuated state for 10 days and showed no sign of failure or deterioration.

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“…RF-MEMS has been utilized in mass-market products for several years, with smartphones being among the foremost adopters [8]. Beyond this conventional application, the remarkable RF performance of RF-MEMS, coupled with its substantial reconfigurability and design flexibility, as well as relatively low manufacturing costs, positions it as a compelling Key Enabling Technology (KET) for advancing mobile communication beyond the 5th generation (B5G), into 6G and Future Networks (FN), particularly targeting operation in the sub-THz range (100-300 GHz) and beyond [9][10][11][12][13]. A pivotal phase in the development of innovative RF-MEMS devices involves modeling, as optimizing their characteristics entails navigating a plethora of Degrees of Freedom (DoF), encompassing both technological and geometrical aspects.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Simple and Fast Modelling of Radio Frequency Passives in View of Beyond-5G and 6G Applications – Case Study of an RF-MEMS Multi-State Network Described by an Equivalent Lumped Element Network

Iannacci,

Tagliapietra,

Marinković

et al. 2024

Preprint

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The utilization of RF-MEMS, which stands for Microsystem-based (MEMS) Radio Frequency (RF) passive components, is garnering growing attention within the realm of Beyond-5G (B5G) and 6G technologies, despite its longstanding existence. This trend is fueled by the impressive RF characteristics achievable through the judicious exploitation of this technology. However, the complex interplay of various physical phenomena in RF-MEMS, spanning mechanical, electrical, and electromagnetic domains, renders the design and optimization of new configurations challenging. In this study, a modeling approach based on Lumped Element Networks (LEN) is employed to accurately predict the Scattering Parameters (S-parameters) characteristics of multi-state and highly reconfigurable RF-MEMS devices. The device under scrutiny is a multi-state RF step power attenuator, previously fabricated, tested, and documented in literature by the principal author. Although these physical devices exhibit flat attenuation characteristics, they are subject to certain non-idealities inherent to the technology. The refined LEN-based methodology presented herein aims to interpret and incorporate such undesirable parasitic effects to provide precise predictions for real RF-MEMS devices. Two custom metrics, referred to as Percent Magnitude Difference (PMD) and Percent Phase Difference (PPD), are utilized to evaluate the accuracy of the LEN model, revealing differences consistently within 1% and 8%, respectively, across a frequency range spanning from 100 MHz to 13.5 GHz.

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500-750 GHz submillimeter-wave MEMS waveguide switch

Cited by 10 publications

References 8 publications

A 700-GHz MEMS Waveguide Switch

A 700-GHz MEMS Waveguide Switch

A 500–750 GHz RF MEMS Waveguide Switch

Simple and Fast Modelling of Radio Frequency Passives in View of Beyond-5G and 6G Applications – Case Study of an RF-MEMS Multi-State Network Described by an Equivalent Lumped Element Network

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