Surface-micromachined RF MEMs switches on GaAs substrates

✍ Scribed by Daniel Hyman; Juan Lam; Brett Warneke; Adele Schmitz; T. Y. Hsu; Julia Brown; James Schaffner; Andy Walston; Robert Y. Loo; Mehran Mehregany; Jae Lee

• Book ID: 102657267
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 505 KB
• Volume: 9
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1096-4290
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-047x(199907)9:4<348::aid-mmce6>3.0.co;2-k

✦ Synopsis

This paper reports on the development of a broadband, low insertion loss, ohmic-contact MEMs switch for microwave and millimeter-wave applications. The switch is surface-micromachined and electrostatically-actuated with electromechanical performance simulated with analytical and numerical models that compare well to experiment. The switch has an actuation voltage of 30 V, a response time of 20 s, and mechanical strength to withstand 10 9 actuations. A 3D electromagnetics scattering model developed iteratively with the electromechanical modeling predicts RF performance demonstrated to be greater than 50 dB of isolation below 2 GHz and less than 0.2 dB of insertion loss from DC through 40 GHz.