On the dielectric polarization effects in capacitive RF-MEMS switches

Author

Papaioannou, G.J. ; Exarchos, M. ; Theonas, V. ; Wang, G. ; Papapolymerou, J.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Phys., Athens Univ., Greece

fYear

2005

fDate

12-17 June 2005

Abstract

This paper investigates both theoretically and experimentally the dielectric charging effects of capacitive RF MEMS switches. Dielectric charging caused by charge injection under voltage stress was observed. The amphoteric nature of traps and its effect on the switch operation were confirmed under both positive and negative control voltages. Furthermore, it has been confirmed that the charging is a complicated process, which can be better described through the stretched exponential relaxation. This charging mechanism is the one that is responsible for the appearance of the negative pull out voltage and finally for the device failure.

Keywords

microswitches; reliability; surface charging; amphoteric traps; capacitive RF-MEMS switches; charge injection; charging mechanism; device failure; dielectric charging effects; dielectric polarization effects; negative control voltages; negative pull out voltage; positive control voltages; reliability; stretched exponential relaxation; voltage stress; Analytical models; Coplanar waveguides; Dielectric devices; Dielectrics and electrical insulation; Micromechanical devices; Physics; Polarization; Radiofrequency microelectromechanical systems; Switches; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Microwave Symposium Digest, 2005 IEEE MTT-S International

ISSN

01490-645X

Print_ISBN

0-7803-8845-3

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/MWSYM.2005.1516723

Filename

1516723