An approach of lateral RF MEMS switch for high performance

Author

Tang, M. ; Agarwal, A. ; Li, J. ; Zhang, Q.X. ; Win, P. ; Huang, J.M. ; Liu, A.Q.

Author_Institution

Sch. of Electr. & Electron. Eng., Nanyang Technol. Univ., Singapore

fYear

2003

fDate

5-7 May 2003

Firstpage

99

Lastpage

102

Abstract

This paper presents a novel type of lateral series microwave switch on a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrate with a coplanar waveguide (CPW) configuration. It is built with a cantilever beam at the side of the gap of the microwave t-line and laterally driven by electrostatic force. The mechanical structures are made of single-crystal-silicon and fabricated by deep reactive ion etch (DRIE) technology. Evaporated aluminum serves as contact material. The fabrication process only needs one mask. The measured result shows up to 26.5 GHz the isolation of the switch is over 18 dB. The threshold voltage is about 12 volts.

Keywords

aluminium; coplanar waveguides; elemental semiconductors; masks; microswitches; microwave switches; silicon; silicon compounds; silicon-on-insulator; sputter etching; 12 V; 18 dB; 26.5 GHz; SOI substrate; Si-SiO₂-Al; cantilever beam; contact material; coplanar waveguide; deep RIE; deep reactive ion etching; electrostatic force; evaporated aluminum; lateral RF MEMS switch; lateral series microwave switch; mask; mechanical structures; microwave t-line; silicon-on-insulator; single crystal silicon; switch isolation; Aluminum; Contacts; Coplanar waveguides; Electrostatics; Etching; Isolation technology; Radiofrequency microelectromechanical systems; Silicon on insulator technology; Structural beams; Switches;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Design, Test, Integration and Packaging of MEMS/MOEMS 2003. Symposium on

Print_ISBN

0-7803-7066-X

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/DTIP.2003.1287016

Filename

1287016