DC-65 GHz characterization of nanocrystalline diamond leaky film for reliable RF MEMS switches

Chee, J.; Karru, R.; Fisher, Timothy S.; Peroulis, Dimitrios

doi:10.1109/eumc.2005.1610242

Cited by 16 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…However, for transmission lines fabricated on HRS substrates, free carriers within the interface between the silicon and the silicon dioxide layer on the surface reduce the effective resistivity by more than one order of magnitude, which necessitates the application of surface passivation techniques [49,50]. [19,20] (2) Stiction, higher risk of self-actuation † Special dielectric materials [21][22][23] (2) Non-standard processing † Dielectric-less actuators using stoppers for isolation [24][25][26] [9]. In contrast to silicon, such metallic bridges have the disadvantage of being susceptible to plastic deformation at high cycle numbers, especially at slightly elevated temperatures above 808C where gold, the most favored material because of its low resistivity, quickly loses its elastic properties.…”

Section: A) Monocrystalline Silicon As Structural and Electrical Matementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Conventional solutions might also impose heavy constraints on the process design or reduce robustness to variations in material and process parameters. An example is dielectric charging in electrostatic actuators, which can be mitigated but has not been solved sufficiently despite very extensive failure analysis [4,[17][18][19][20][21][22][23].…”

Section: I D E S I G N F O R P R O C E S S R O B U S T N E S S a mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Trapped charges in dielectric isolation layers and in the substrate change the characteristics of the device, leading to actuation voltage drift and reduced RF performance. Some suggested solutions in the literature, for instance, are tailor-made actuation voltage shapes (pulsed or bi-polar) to reduce charge build-up [19,20], reduced actuation voltage to minimize the field strength in the dielectric [19,20] and dielectrics with fast charging recovery time like diamond [21][22][23]. Dielectric-less designs, using metal stoppers for isolation, e.g., is a promising alternative to the conventional solutions [24][25][26].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Microwave MEMS devices designed for process robustness and operational reliability

Sterner

Somjit

Shah

et al. 2011

Int. J. Microw. Wireless Technol.

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, antti ra ¤isa ¤nen 2 and joachim oberhammer 1 This paper presents an overview on novel microwave micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) device concepts developed in our research group during the last 5 years, which are specifically designed for addressing some fundamental problems for reliable device operation and robustness to process parameter variation. In contrast to conventional solutions, the presented device concepts are targeted at eliminating their respective failure modes rather than reducing or controlling them. Novel concepts of MEMS phase shifters, tunable microwave surfaces, reconfigurable leaky-wave antennas, multi-stable switches, and tunable capacitors are presented, featuring the following innovative design elements: dielectric-less actuators to overcome dielectric charging; reversing active/passive functions in MEMS switch actuators to improve recovery from contact stiction; symmetrical anti-parallel metallization for full stress-control and temperature compensation of composite dielectric/metal layers for free-standing structures; monocrystalline silicon as structural material for superior mechanical performance; and eliminating thin metallic bridges for high-power handling. This paper summarizes the design, fabrication, and measurement of devices featuring these concepts, enhanced by new characterization data, and discusses them in the context of the conventional MEMS device design.Keywords: RF MEMS, Reliability, MEMS design, Phase shifter, Tuneable capacitor, MEMS switch [12]. In general, RF MEMS devices are characterized by near-ideal signal handling performance in terms of insertion loss, isolation, linearity, large tuning range, and by keeping these performance parameters over a very large bandwidth [4,13]. I . I N T R O D U C T I O NMicrowave MEMS are RF MEMS devices that operate with signal frequencies above 30 GHz. With applications moving to higher frequencies, the performance advantages of MEMS devices over their competitors are getting larger. Also, at frequencies where the signal wavelengths are getting closer to the device dimensions, it is possible to miniaturize a complete RF system on a chip, and different ways of interaction between the microwave signals and the micromechanics lead to new possibilities of RF MEMS devices [47].Operational reliability, i.e. the ability of devices to work as specified over the whole lifetime, and robustness to process parameter variations, are key issues in RF MEMS design [14,48].Conventional RF MEMS designs are still characterized by some fundamental problems. Thin metallic bridges, for instance, found in many RF MEMS devices, such as switches and phase shifters, are susceptible to temperature-accelerated creep and fatigue, limiting the device life-time [14]. In contrast, monocrystalline silicon is a very robust MEMS structural material that is at the same time also suitable as RF dielectric material if high-resistivity silicon (HRS) is used [15,49].

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Section: A) Monocrystalline Silicon As Structural and Electrical Matementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: I D E S I G N F O R P R O C E S S R O B U S T N E S S a mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Microwave MEMS devices designed for process robustness and operational reliability

Sterner

Somjit

Shah

et al. 2011

Int. J. Microw. Wireless Technol.

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“…One way to attack the problem is to reduce the recombination time of the charges in the dielectric by depositing a leaky dielectric [16]- [18] such as silicon-rich silicon nitride that allows an appreciable current flow through the dielectric. By increasing the conductivity of the dielectric, the trapped charges can recombine quickly and not cause dielectric stiction.…”

Section: Dielectric Chargingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Schottky Barrier Contact-Based RF MEMS Switch

Pillans

Morris

Chahal

et al. 2008

J. Microelectromech. Syst.

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This paper presents the design, fabrication, and measurement results for a novel Schottky barrier contact-based radio frequency (RF) microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) switch. This Schottky barrier contact allows one not only to operate the RF MEMS switch in a traditional capacitive mode when it is reverse biased but also conduct current in a forward biased state. Forward biasing the switch recombines trapped charges, thus extending the lifetime of the switch. This paper intimately combines MEMS processing with solid-state electronics to produce a truly unique RF device.[2008-0097]

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“…Unfortunately, these techniques have not proven repeatable or robust enough to be generally adopted. Researchers have successfully incorporated nano-crystalline diamond as the switch dielectric for MEMS switches, but not mentioned any significant details regarding the benefits to dielectric charging or reliability [4][5][6]. This paper summarizes efforts by a team of scientists and engineers to tailor the dielectric charging properties of ultra nano-crystalline diamond, incorporate those films into capacitive MEMS switches, and demonstrate reduced dielectric charging.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Charging characteristics of ultra-nano-crystalline diamond in RF MEMS capacitive switches

Goldsmith¹,

Sumant²,

Auciello³

et al. 2010

2010 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium

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Modifications to a standard capacitive MEMS switch process have been made to allow the incorporation of ultra-nano-crystalline diamond as the switch dielectric. The impact on electromechanical performance is minimal. However, these devices exhibit uniquely different charging characteristics, with charging and discharging time constants 5-6 orders of magnitude quicker than conventional materials. This operation opens the possibility of devices which have no adverse effects of dielectric charging and can be operated near-continuously in the actuated state without significant degradation in reliability.

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DC-65 GHz characterization of nanocrystalline diamond leaky film for reliable RF MEMS switches

Cited by 16 publications

References 10 publications

Microwave MEMS devices designed for process robustness and operational reliability

Microwave MEMS devices designed for process robustness and operational reliability

Schottky Barrier Contact-Based RF MEMS Switch

Charging characteristics of ultra-nano-crystalline diamond in RF MEMS capacitive switches

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