The development of a MEMS six-port reflectometer calibration standard

This research investigates electrically actuated microelectromechanical standards for the calibration of a six-port reflectometer. The effects of a non-ideal standard are studied with a computer model and the results show nominal operation by constraining the amplitude variation of the reflection coefficient of the sliding short below 0.03. A W-band (75-110 GHz) distributed MEMS transmission line (DMTL) variable phase shifter satisfying this constraint is designed and fabricated. Measurements show sufficient phase shift for a calibration but the amplitude variation is slightly above the ideal value found by the computer model.