High speed, single cycle resolution reliability system for RF-MEMS switches

This paper presents a novel platform for high speed, single cycle resolution lifetime testing of RF-MEMS switches and the results collected. The platform utilizes an FPGA based monitoring system to allow switch cycling up to 45 kHz. In addition, multiple real-time resistance measurements are made each cycle, allowing the accurate detection of intermittent failures. Each measurement is then analyzed and all failures, as well as a periodic sample of passing cycles, are stored and transferred to an external PC for further analysis. Results presented here verify the platform´s functionality. Moreover, the results indicate that brief intermittent failures can occur hundreds of millions of cycles before end of life failure, which illustrates the need for single cycle resolution when qualifying RF-MEMS switches for use in larger RF systems. To the authors´ knowledge, this is the first reported reliability system capable of single cycle resolution at high cycling frequencies.