Resonant Pull-in for a variable gap lateral contact RF MEMS switch

Author

Vummidi, Krishna ; Hammond, Jonathan ; Costa, Julio ; Raman, Sanjay

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA

fYear

2010

fDate

24-28 Jan. 2010

Firstpage

767

Lastpage

770

Abstract

This paper reports the experimental results for Resonant Pull-in phenomenon (V_RP = V_DC + RMS v_ac) as an actuation method for a lateral contact RFMEMS switch. We show that VRP is significantly less than the static pull-in voltage (V_SP = V_DC). We show that the reduction in actuation voltage can be greatly enhanced by operating at the optimal non-linear resonance frequency. We show that based on the applied voltages and available gap at the head, the switch can operate as a resonator, resonant switch or as an impact oscillator. Finally, we report for the first time the timing response for resonant pull-in case.

Keywords

microswitches; microwave switches; resonance; actuation method; actuation voltage; impact oscillator; optimal nonlinear resonance frequency; resonant pull-in; resonant switch; timing response; variable gap lateral contact RF MEMS switch; Contacts; Electrodes; Optical switches; Radiofrequency microelectromechanical systems; Resonance; Resonant frequency; Time factors; Timing; Voltage; Voltage-controlled oscillators;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS), 2010 IEEE 23rd International Conference on

Conference_Location

Wanchai, Hong Kong

ISSN

1084-6999

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-5761-8

Electronic_ISBN

1084-6999

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/MEMSYS.2010.5442293

Filename

5442293