Title :
Innovative RF MEMS switches on GaAs
Author :
Simon, W. ; Baggen, L. ; Smith, D.
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Antennas & EM-Modeling, IMST GmbH, Kamp-Lintfort, Germany
Abstract :
RF-MEMS is an emerging area of MEMS technology that is revolutionizing RF- and microwave applications. RF-MEMS devices have a broad range of applications in military and commercial wireless communication, navigation and sensor systems. Agile RF-systems require reconfigurable frontends that can steer the beam over a wide frequency range. Such applications always require some kind of switches. The RF MEMS switch technology presented in this paper has been combined with a standard commercial GaAs MMIC process from the OMMIC foundry. Several switches have been designed and evaluated within the FP7 project MEMS-4-MMIC. Such switches can be used in compact designs of switching matrices, routing networks and/or phase shifters. One application range is electronically steerable antenna arrays that can be used for radar applications, satellite communication and sensory. A 3D FDTD field solver has been used for the electromagnetic design of all switches presented within this article.
Keywords :
III-V semiconductors; MMIC; electromagnetic devices; finite difference time-domain analysis; gallium arsenide; microswitches; microwave switches; radiofrequency integrated circuits; 3D FDTD field solver; GaAs; MMIC process; RF MEMS switches; electromagnetic design; electronically steerable antenna arrays; microwave application; phase shifters; radar applications; reconfigurable frontends; routing networks; satellite communication; sensory; switching matrix; EM simulation; GaAs; MEMS; SPDT; SPST; foundry; switches;
Conference_Titel :
Antenna Technology and Applied Electromagnetics & the American Electromagnetics Conference (ANTEM-AMEREM), 2010 14th International Symposium on
Conference_Location :
Ottawa, ON
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4244-5049-7
Electronic_ISBN :
978-1-4244-5050-3
DOI :
10.1109/ANTEM.2010.5552494
