Title :
Effects of atmosphere on the reliability of RF-MEMS capacitive switches
Author :
Blondy, Pierre ; Crunteanu, Aurelian ; Pothier, Arnaud ; Tristant, Pascal ; Catherinot, Alain ; Champeaux, Corinne
Author_Institution :
Univ. de Limoges, Limoges
Abstract :
The influence of atmosphere on capacitive RF-MEMS switches is studied. It is shown that ambient atmosphere not only induces an incremental effect on the degradation of MEMS switches but also completely changes the charging mechanism of the dielectrics, directly linked with RF-MEMS reliability behaviour of MEMS switches reliability. Operating RF-MEMS switches in a dry environment changes the mechanism of charging from surface charging to bulk charging.
Keywords :
microswitches; reliability; surface charging; RF-MEMS capacitive switches; surface charging; Atmosphere; Dielectrics; Humidity; Microswitches; Packaging; Radiofrequency microelectromechanical systems; Surface charging; Switches; Switching circuits; Voltage;
Conference_Titel :
Microwave Integrated Circuit Conference, 2007. EuMIC 2007. European
Conference_Location :
Munich
Print_ISBN :
978-2-87487-002-6
DOI :
10.1109/EMICC.2007.4412771
