An All-Metal Micro-Relay With Bulk Foil Pt–Rh Contacts for High-Power RF Applications

Author

Ozkeskin, Fatih M. ; Choi, Sangjo ; Sarabandi, Kamal ; Gianchandani, Yogesh B.

Author_Institution

Mech. Eng. Dept., Univ. of Michigan at Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

Volume

60

Issue

6

fYear

2012

fDate

6/1/2012 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1595

Lastpage

1604

Abstract

This paper describes the performance of stainless-steel micro-relays, with platinum-rhodium metal foil contact elements, in handling high-power RF signals. The electrical and thermal responses are described for electrostatically actuated three-terminal micro-relays that are directly assembled on printed circuit boards. The preliminary designs have footprints of 6.4 mm². Fabricated relays have 90-V turn-on (pull-down) voltage. The down-state insertion loss and up-state isolation were better than 0.2 and 25 dB over the band of dc-5 GHz, respectively. The devices can accommodate incident RF power up to 18.5 W at 3 GHz when cooled by forced air from a mini-fan.

Keywords

electrostatic actuators; microrelays; platinum alloys; printed circuits; radiofrequency integrated circuits; rhodium alloys; Pt-Rh contacts; PtRh; all-metal microrelay; bulk foil; electrical response; electrostatic actuator; frequency 3 GHz; frequency 5 GHz; high-power RF applications; platinum-rhodium metal foil contact; printed circuit boards; stainless steel; thermal response; Assembly; Bridges; Electrodes; Heat sinks; Materials; Metals; Radio frequency; Cantilever; RF switch; heat sink; micro-relay; platinum–rhodium (Pt–Rh);

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Microwave Theory and Techniques, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9480

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TMTT.2012.2192744

Filename

6190730