Electrostatic and Electromagnetic Parametric Analysis of RF MEMS Switches for Reconfigurable Antenna

Abstract

This work presents RF MEMS switch design, packaging and incorporation in patch antenna. Electrostatic and Electromagnetic parametric analysis is performed. The RF MEMS switch packaging aspects also highlight. Novel configuration of MEMS switch, and antenna performance was studied in 0.5–40 GHz frequency range. A modified serpentine membrane is designed and simulated, offering a low actuation voltage of 5 V, switching time of 100 µs, and damping duration is 1.6 ms. The switch design is extended up to packaging by extracting contacts. Diamond shape patch is considered for antenna design. Two identical switches are used to design a reconfigurable antenna, where frequency reconfigurability is analyzed under different switching conditions. The proposed antenna is found suitable for X, and K band applications