Study of Contact Resistance for Curled-Up Beams in Waveguide Switch

Author

Vahabisani, Nahid ; Daneshmand, Mojgan

Author_Institution

Electr. & Comput. Eng. Dept., Univ. of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada

Volume

22

Issue

11

fYear

2012

Firstpage

586

Lastpage

588

Abstract

In this letter, we are proposing a new technique to determine the contact resistance of the curled up beams in RF MEMS waveguide switches. Unlike the previous studies on the contact resistance of RF MEMS switches, here the contact resistance is measured at the “OFF” state of the switch with no dc voltage applied. The presented concept has been analyzed theoretically and verified by simulations and experimental data, illustrating less than 10% error. This study provides a measure for estimating the contact resistance of the emerging RF and millimeter-wave MEMS waveguide switches and paves the way for commercialization of such devices.

Keywords

cantilevers; contact resistance; microfabrication; microswitches; millimetre wave devices; waveguides; OFF state; RF MEMS waveguide switches; contact resistance; curled-up beams; device commercialization; millimeter-wave MEMS waveguide switches; Contact resistance; Electrical resistance measurement; Force; Radio frequency; Resistance; Switches; Contact resistance; RF MEMS waveguide switch; curled-up cantilever beams;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Microwave and Wireless Components Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1531-1309

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/LMWC.2012.2225139

Filename

6335447