Title :
Dielectric charging and thermally activated processes in MEMS capacitive switches
Author :
Papaioannou, George ; Tavasolian, Negar ; Goldsmith, Charles ; Papapolymerou, John
Author_Institution :
Nat. Kapodistrian Univ. of Athens, Athens, Greece
Abstract :
The paper investigates dielectric charging effects for capacitive RF MEMS switches with SiO2 as the dielectric material. Two different actuation schemes are implemented in order to incorporate and better understand the charging history over time. Experimental results indicate that regardless of the actuation scheme the charging is thermally in principle, and that the activation energy decreases as the voltage sweep rate increases.
Keywords :
microswitches; silicon compounds; RF MEMS capacitive switches; activation energy; dielectric charging; dielectric material; thermally activated processes; voltage sweep rate; Capacitance-voltage characteristics; Dielectric materials; Micromechanical devices; Radiofrequency microelectromechanical systems; Rough surfaces; Surface charging; Surface roughness; Switches; Switching circuits; Temperature;
Conference_Titel :
Microwave Integrated Circuits Conference, 2009. EuMIC 2009. European
Conference_Location :
Rome
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4244-4749-7
