Angular vertical comb-driven tunable capacitor with high-tuning capabilities

Author

Nguyen, Hung D. ; Hah, Dooyoung ; Patterson, Pamela R. ; Chao, Rumin ; Piyawattanametha, Wibool ; Lau, Erwin K. ; Wu, Ming C.

Author_Institution

Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Volume

13

Issue

3

fYear

2004

fDate

6/1/2004 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

406

Lastpage

413

Abstract

This paper reports on a novel tunable capacitor with electrostatic angular vertical comb-drive (AVC) actuators. The AVC tunable capacitor creates a large offset in comb fingers through a small rotation angle-an advantage not found in conventional lateral comb-drive devices. High capacitance and large continuous tuning ratio is achieved in a compact device area. The largest tuning varactor demonstrates capacitance values between 0.27-8.6 pF-a tuning ratio of more than 31:1, the highest ever reported. The maximum quality factor Q is 273 at 1 GHz near the minimum capacitance value.

Keywords

capacitors; electrostatic actuators; tuning; 0.27 to 8.6 pF; 1 GHz; BCB reflow; angular vertical comb-driven tunable capacitor; comb fingers; compact device area; electrostatic AVC actuators; high-tuning capabilities; radio frequency microelectromechanical systems; tuning ratio; tuning varactor; Automatic voltage control; Capacitance; Capacitors; Conductors; Electrostatic actuators; Micromechanical devices; Radiofrequency microelectromechanical systems; Tunable circuits and devices; Tuning; Varactors; AVC; Angular vertical comb drive; BCB reflow; RF MEMS; radio frequency microelectromechanical systems; tunable capacitors;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Microelectromechanical Systems, Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1057-7157

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JMEMS.2004.828741

Filename

1303618