Understanding and control of unstable contact resistance in RF MEMS gold-gold direct contact switches

The implementation of direct contact RF MEMS switches is challenging owing to their unstable contact resistance and low power handling/delivery. This paper carefully studies RF MEMS switch contact behavior and proposes a new method to suppress its instability leading to device failure. Our study supports the hypothesis that MEMS contact switches fail primarily due to contact necking. Using the proposed method, we demonstrate the ability to keep MEMS switch contact resistance under ~0.05 ¿ in high-cycle cold-switching while a high contact current of > 0.9 A is handled/delivered.