"Pharmacist cross" phase-shifting cell loaded with MEMS switches for reconfigurable reflectarrays

This paper proposes a new MEMS based reconfigurable reflectarray cell. It is based on the "pharmacist cross topology". The number and position of MEMS switches in this cell are optimized in order to have a 360° phase range with a uniform distribution at the central frequency. This cell is then used as key element in a test-case reflectarray in order to assess its capabilities regarding bandwidth and MEMS capacitances uncertainty. To enlarge bandwidth and reduce capacitances uncertainty effects, an elimination procedure of dispersive MEMS configurations is also proposed.