Electrostatically-tunable analog RF MEMS varactors with measured capacitance range of 300%

Author

Peroulis, D. ; Katehi, L.P.B.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. Eng. & Comput. Sci., Michigan Univ., Ann Arbor, MI, USA

Volume

3

fYear

2003

Firstpage

1793

Abstract

This paper reports on the design, fabrication, and testing of a novel analog MEMS varactor with measured tuning range of 300%. The proposed electrostatically actuated varactor is based on a parallel-plate approach and is best suited for microwave/millimeter-wave applications. The measured capacitance values are in the range of 40-160 fF and are achieved with DC voltages of 20-34 V. The proposed varactor has the additional advantages of very high resonant frequency (its series measured parasitic inductance is 9 pH) and high quality factor (higher than 80 at 40 GHz).

Keywords

Q-factor; capacitance; micromechanical devices; microwave diodes; millimetre wave diodes; varactors; 20 to 34 V; 40 GHz; 40 to 160 fF; DC voltages; analog MEMS varactor; capacitance range; electrostatically-tunable varactors; microwave applications; millimeter-wave applications; parallel-plate approach; parasitic inductance; quality factor; resonant frequency; Capacitance measurement; Electrostatic measurements; Fabrication; Frequency measurement; Inductance measurement; Micromechanical devices; Millimeter wave measurements; Radiofrequency microelectromechanical systems; Testing; Varactors;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Microwave Symposium Digest, 2003 IEEE MTT-S International

Conference_Location

Philadelphia, PA, USA

ISSN

0149-645X

Print_ISBN

0-7803-7695-1

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/MWSYM.2003.1210488

Filename

1210488