Development of a microwave microelectromechanical systems switch

Abstract

Articles you may be interested inThick membrane operated rf microelectromechanical system switch with low actuation voltage A novel microwave microelectromechanical systems switch with a coplanar waveguide structure has been developed. The switch consists of a freestanding metallic cantilever and an electromagnet. A permanent magnetic film was deposited on top of the cantilever. By supplying a dc current to the electromagnet, the magnetic field generated would attract or repel the permanent magnetic film on top of the cantilever, causing it to make or break contact with a bottom electrode. An all-electrodeposition method has been used to improve the mechanical properties of the cantilever. The deposition process of the cantilevers has been optimized to improve the adhesion of the cantilever to the substrate and to minimize the switching dc power. Using commercially available electromagnet, a voltage of 2 V ͑dc power of about 15 mW͒, is sufficient to actuate the switches. Similar switching power was observed using an improved hand wound electromagnet. The on-state dc resistance of the switches is generally less than 2 ⍀. At 10 GHz, the on state insertion loss due purely to the switches is about 0.1 dB and off state isolation is greater than 20 dB. Repeated operations of the switches showed no sign of performance degradation in a conventional room environment.

Decrease of the resonance bandwidth of micromechanical oscillators by phase control of the driving force

“…An external stimulus that shift the resonant frequency would cancel or set into oscillation the MMO, switching or modulating the electrical or optical signal. 14…”

A Wet Etching Post-process for CMOS-MEMS RF Switches

“…Lee et al [6] studied a piesoelectrically actuated Ohmic MEMS switch, which was composed of piezoelectric cantilever actuators with an Au contact electrode and CPW transmission lines suspened over the substrate. Qiu et al [7] utilized a surface micromachining process to fabricate a electromagnetically actuated MEMS switch. Tauchi et al [8] employed silicon deep dry etching, SOI wafer and electrostatic bonding to fabricate a two-stage-driven RF MEMS switch.…”

A Micromachined Microwave Switch Fabricated by the Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor Post-Process of Etching Silicon Dioxide

“…2) Several studies have recently employed micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) technology to fabricate micromechanical microwave switches. [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17] Micromachined microwave switches have low insertion loss and good isolation at microwave and millimeter wave frequencies. 18) Theoretically, micromechanical microwave switches do not exhibit inter-modulation distortion (IMD) because there is no I-V nonlinearity.…”