Electro-thermo-mechanical analysis of a BiCMOS embedded RF-MEMS switch for temperatures from −55°C to + 125°C

Author

Wietstruck, M. ; Kaynak, Mehmet ; Zhang, Wensheng ; Tillack, Bernd

Author_Institution

IHP, Frankfurt (Oder), Germany

fYear

2013

fDate

21-23 Jan. 2013

Firstpage

18

Lastpage

20

Abstract

The influence of temperature on electrical, mechanical and RF-performance of a BiCMOS embedded RF-MEMS switch has been demonstrated. Instead of exclusively estimating the temperature-dependent RF-MEMS switch key performance parameters, understanding the temperature influence on the mechanics together with the related electrical and RF-performance is preferred. A detailed thermo-mechanical analysis of the suspended membrane shows that the membrane shape and contact formation is strongly affected by temperature variations. It explains the significant influence of temperature on the pull-in voltage and on-state capacitance showing that a thermo-mechanical analysis is absolutely mandatory for an efficient process and design optimization to increase the temperature robustness.

Keywords

BiCMOS integrated circuits; microswitches; parameter estimation; radiofrequency integrated circuits; thermal analysis; BiCMOS embedded RF-MEMS switch; RF-performance; contact formation; electrical performance; electrothermomechanical analysis; mechanical performance; membrane shape; on-state capacitance; temperature -55 degC to 125 degC; temperature variations; temperature-dependent RF-MEMS switch key performance parameter estimation; BiCMOS integrated circuits; Contacts; Robustness; Switches; Switching circuits; Temperature distribution; Temperature measurement; Monolithic integration; RF-MEMS switch; Temperature robustness; Thermo-mechanical analysis;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Silicon Monolithic Integrated Circuits in RF Systems (SiRF), 2013 IEEE 13th Topical Meeting on

Conference_Location

Austin, TX

Print_ISBN

978-1-4673-1552-4

Electronic_ISBN

978-1-4673-1551-7

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/SiRF.2013.6489418

Filename

6489418