A compact DC-10 GHz SP7T RF MEMS switch

This paper presents a compact SP7T RF MEMS switch based on symmetrically designed radial series switches, in an area of 470 × 470 μm² (not including the CPW port transmission lines). The SP7T radial switch achieves a simulated contact and release force of 0.3 mN for an actuation voltage of 95 V. The switch achieves an isolation of 50-19 dB and an insertion loss of 0.3-1.2 dB at 0.1-10 GHz. The switching time is ~10 μs. A cold-switched reliability larger than 10⁸ cycles with an RF power of 100 mW and 300 mW has been achieved, which is the required power for 3G and 4G systems. The application areas are in high performance compact switching networks for wireless systems. To our knowledge, this represents the most compact SP7T RF MEMS switch achieved to-date.