Title :
Robustness and reliability of BiCMOS embedded RF-MEMS switch
Author :
Kaynak, M. ; Korndörfer, F. ; Wietstruck, M. ; Knoll, D. ; Scholz, R. ; Wipf, C. ; Krause, C. ; Tillack, B.
Author_Institution :
IHP, Frankfurt (Oder), Germany
Abstract :
Robustness and reliability of an embedded RF-MEMS switch are analyzed. Changes of key switch parameters, such as COFF, CON, and pull-in voltage, with the ambient temperature are investigated in the range of -30°C to 150°C. The biggest temperature effect, a decrease by a factor of 2 between -30°C and 150°C, is observed for COFF, while CON weakly increases by only about 6% in this temperature range. For the pull-in voltage, practically no T-effect is observed. The power handling performance is also analyzed. A DC self-actuation voltage of 20V was estimated. To hold the membrane in down position, an 1.2V DC voltage drop or 15dBm RF power was found to be necessary. Finally, a new reliability test was applied, using Laser-Doppler (LD) Vibrometry technique to analyze the change in the switch dynamic behavior after billion times of operation. The measurement results show that this behavior hardly changes for up to 50 billion times operation.
Keywords :
BiCMOS integrated circuits; integrated circuit reliability; microswitches; radiofrequency integrated circuits; vibration measurement; BiCMOS; DC self-actuation voltage; Laser-Doppler vibrometry technique; RF-MEMS switch; T-effect; key switch parameters; pull-in voltage; reliability test; robustness; switch dynamic behavior; temperature -30 degC to 150 degC; voltage 1.2 V; Biomembranes; Radio frequency; Robustness; Switches; Switching circuits; Temperature measurement; RF-MEMS switch; reliability; robustness;
Conference_Titel :
Silicon Monolithic Integrated Circuits in RF Systems (SiRF), 2011 IEEE 11th Topical Meeting on
Conference_Location :
Phoenix, AZ
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4244-8060-9
DOI :
10.1109/SIRF.2011.5719336
