Feedback control of membrane displacement in RF-MEMS switches

Control of transient behavior of RF-MEMS switch membrane is crucial to the durability and reliability of the switch. This work presents a novel technique for controlling the displacement of the switch membrane. The technique shows exceptional capabilities of achieving soft landing of the membrane on contact pads at pull-in voltage, and significant improvement of pull-out transient. The control technique presented in this work is physical based and generic in nature, thus making it adaptable and scalable to any switch. Comparison between switch behavior with and without control shows 80% improvement in impact dynamics and approximately 70% improvement in overshoot and settling time during pull-out.