A high power (>5 W) temperature stable RF MEMS metal-contact switch with orthogonal anchors and force-enhancing stoppers

Author

Patel, Chirag D. ; Rebeiz, Gabriel M.

Author_Institution

Univ. of California - San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA

fYear

2011

fDate

5-10 June 2011

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

4

Abstract

This paper presents a temperature stable metal-contact RF MEMS switch capable of handling >;5 W of RF power. The device achieves 0.7 - 1.5 mN of contact force for actuation voltages of 80 - 90 V, with a restoring force of 0.63 mN. Furthermore, the device is insensitive to stress effects and temperature. Temperature measurements showed excellent thermal stability - no deflection in the beam, and a change in pull-in voltage of only 4 V from 25 - 125 °C. The switch was tested under prolonged (>;24 hrs) high-power RF conditions with excellent reliability.

Keywords

electrical contacts; microswitches; reliability; seals (stoppers); stress effects; thermal stability; actuation voltage; contact force; force-enhancing stopper; high power temperature stable RF MEMS metal-contact switch; orthogonal anchor; pull-in voltage; reliability; stress effect; temperature 25 degC to 125 degC; temperature measurement; thermal stability; voltage 80 V to 90 V; Contacts; Force; Radio frequency; Stress; Switches; Temperature measurement; Voltage measurement; DC-contact; RF MEMS; high power; orthogonal anchor; tethered cantilever;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Microwave Symposium Digest (MTT), 2011 IEEE MTT-S International

Conference_Location

Baltimore, MD

ISSN

0149-645X

Print_ISBN

978-1-61284-754-2

Electronic_ISBN

0149-645X

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/MWSYM.2011.5972717

Filename

5972717