MEMS microswitches for reconfigurable microwave circuitry

Duffy, S.M.; Bozler, C.O.; Rabe, S.; Knecht, J.M.; Travis, L.; Wyatt, P.W.; Keast, C.L.; Gouker, M.A.

doi:10.1109/7260.915617

Cited by 109 publications

(56 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…Controlling the residual stress and achieving temperature compensation in these structures are very difficult due to the diverse material properties. Significant process optimization is necessary and the resulting residual stress and temperature compensation are very sensitive to process parameter variations [43,44,46].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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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“…Although these two working principles require quite different material constrains (hence fabricated by separate and specific processes), the possibility to combine them on the same process may provide important design flexibilities. From these two building blocks, a large variety of devices as routing circuit, impedance synthesizer, delay lines, tuneable filter, and phase shifters can be conceived [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33]. Among the different actuation principles which have being investigated and used there are:…”

Section: Rf Mems Technologies and Devicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

RF MEMS status and perspectives

Coccetti¹,

Peyrou²,

Ahmad³

et al. 2008

Phys. Status Solidi (c)

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Entgegen landläufiger Meinung katalysiert [Co4(CO)12] sehr wohl die Pauson‐Khand‐Reaktion unter normalen Laborbedingungen (70°C, 1 atm CO) [Gl. (1)]. Mit Zusätzen wie Cyclohexylamin oder Pyridin, die vermutlich die Disproportionierung in die katalytisch aktive Cobalt‐Spezies begünstigen, konnte die katalytische Wirkung gesteigert werden. Die erfolgreiche Verwendung des kommerziell erhältlichen, vergleichsweise stabilen [Co4(CO)12]‐Clusters als Katalysatorvorstufe zeigt, dass die Entstehung von [Co4(CO)12] bei der durch [Co2(CO)8] katalysierten Pauson‐Khand‐Reaktion keineswegs in eine Sackgasse führt.

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“…These two functions, however, do not necessarily need the same force. For instance, although the Lincoln Laboratory switch actuates with a bias voltage of 36 V, 80 V are needed for a contact resistance of less than 1⍀ [6]. However, such a high voltage may severely impact the switch lifetime by increasing the risk of a mechanical or dielectric failure [7].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Several different designs with outstanding RF performance have been developed by Rockwell Scientific [2], Analog Devices and Northeastern University [3], the University of Michigan [4,5], MIT Lincoln Laboratory [6] and others. Figure 1 illustrates some of these designs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%