Microrelays for batch transfer integration in RF systems

Author

Milanovic, Veljko ; Maharbiz, Michel ; Singh, Angad ; Warneke, Brett ; Zhou, Ningning ; Chan, Helena K. ; Pister, Kristofer S J

Author_Institution

Sensor & Actuator Center, California Univ., Berkeley, CA, USA

fYear

2000

fDate

23-27 Jan 2000

Firstpage

787

Lastpage

792

Abstract

This paper presents the first implementation of batch-transferred microrelays for a broad range of RF applications and substrates. The transferred relays include a variety of electrostatic pull-down type structures, as well as see-saw type structures. The batch-transfer methodology allows integration of optimized MEMS in RF systems on substrates such as sapphire, GaAs, and even CMOS. Gold-to-gold contact series microrelays with insertion loss of <0.15 dB, and isolation better than 36 dB at frequencies from 45 MHz to 40.0 GHz are demonstrated, as well as shunt switches with >40 dB of isolation and <0.12 dB insertion loss in that frequency range. A novel device structure which combines the benefits of see-saw operation and both shunt and series switching was shown to improve isolation of a single switch by ~8 dB while maintaining low insertion loss

Keywords

micromechanical devices; relays; 0.12 to 0.15 dB; 45 MHz to 40.0 GHz; Au-Au; CMOS substrate; GaAs substrate; MEMS device; RF system; batch transfer integration; electrostatic pull-down structure; gold-to-gold contact; insertion loss; isolation; microrelay; sapphire substrate; see-saw structure; series switching; shunt switching; Communication switching; Electrostatics; Gold; Insertion loss; Isolation technology; Micromechanical devices; Microrelays; Radio frequency; Switches; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Micro Electro Mechanical Systems, 2000. MEMS 2000. The Thirteenth Annual International Conference on

Conference_Location

Miyazaki

ISSN

1084-6999

Print_ISBN

0-7803-5273-4

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/MEMSYS.2000.838618

Filename

838618