Novel DC-Contact MEMS Shunt Switches and High-Isolation Series/Shunt Designs

This paper presents a metal-to-metal contact MEMS shunt switch suitable for DC-40 GHz applications. A novel pull-down electrode is used which applies the electrostatic force at the same location as the metal-to-metal contact area. A contact resistance of 0.15 - 0.35 ¿ is repeatably achieved, and results in an isolation of ¿40 dB at 0.1-3 GHz. The measured isolation is still better than ¿20 dB at 40 GHz. The DC-contact shunt switch is used in a series/shunt design to result in ¿60 dB isolation at 5 GHz and better than ¿40 dB up to 40 GHz. The application areas are in high-isolation/low-loss switches for telecommunication and radar systems.