RF-MEMS Switched Varactor for High Power Applications

Author

Palego, C. ; Pothier, A. ; Gasseling, T. ; Crunteanu, Aurelian ; Cibert, C. ; Champeaux, C. ; Tristant, P. ; Catherinot, A. ; Blondy, P.

Author_Institution

XXLIM, Limoges

fYear

2006

fDate

11-16 June 2006

Firstpage

35

Lastpage

38

Abstract

A new kind of MEMS switched varactor has been developed to handle high power RF signals, (P>1W), at S and X-band. The design principle is presented, as well as measurements results featuring an analysis of the reliability tests. The fabricated varactors have shown a capacitance ratio of 7-8 at 5 GHz and good performances reproducibility while undergoing 1 billion cycle tests under an input RF power of 1W @ 10GHz, and 250 million cycle tests under 5W @ 3GHz, both in hot switching conditions, without visible degradation

Keywords

micromechanical devices; microwave devices; reliability; varactors; 1 W; 10 GHz; 3 GHz; 5 GHz; 5 W; RF-MEMS switched varactor; S-band; X-band; high power RF signals; high power applications; hot switching conditions; reliability tests; Capacitance; Dielectrics; Electrodes; Microelectromechanical devices; Micromechanical devices; Radio frequency; Radiofrequency microelectromechanical systems; Switches; Testing; Varactors; MEMS devices; power handling; reliability testing; varactors;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Microwave Symposium Digest, 2006. IEEE MTT-S International

Conference_Location

San Francisco, CA

ISSN

0149-645X

Print_ISBN

0-7803-9541-7

Electronic_ISBN

0149-645X

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/MWSYM.2006.249902

Filename

4014811