Advances in direct-write printing of RF-MEMS using M3D

Author

Al-Mobin, A. Md N. ; Shankar, Raji ; Cross, W. ; Kellar, J. ; Whites, Keith ; Anagnostou, Dimitris

Author_Institution

South Dakota Sch. of Mines & Technol., Rapid City, SD, USA

fYear

2014

fDate

1-6 June 2014

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

4

Abstract

We report an additive manufacturing process using in-house custom-made inks for the fabrication of ohmic contact RF MEMS switches. The fabrication involves multiple steps of additive printing using a conductive silver ink and a PMMA [poly(methyl methacrylate)] photoresistive polymer ink. The inks comply with the rheology requirements of the M3D material deposition system. Deposition is made at 40°C and feature sizes involve 10-20μm. The maximum temperature of the process depends on ink curing and was 250°C. A functional ohmic contact cantilever RF MEMS switch on flexible Kapton™ substrate was fabricated and tested successfully, and results are presented.

Keywords

microswitches; ohmic contacts; printing; M³D material deposition system; PMMA; additive manufacturing process; additive printing; conductive silver ink; direct-write printing; flexible Kapton substrate; functional ohmic contact cantilever RF MEMS switch; in-house custom-made inks; ink curing; poly methyl methacrylate photoresistive polymer ink; rheology requirements; size 10 mum to 20 mum; temperature 250 degC; temperature 40 degC; Abstracts; Ink; Micromechanical devices; Radio frequency; Silver; Switches; Three-dimensional displays; Direct-Write; Flexible Electronics; RF MEMS;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Microwave Symposium (IMS), 2014 IEEE MTT-S International

Conference_Location

Tampa, FL

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/MWSYM.2014.6848652

Filename

6848652