On-wafer electro-mechanical characterization of silicon MEMS switches

The feasibility of integrating the RF MEMS switches in space and wireless communication systems has generated tremendous interest in related design, fabrication and characterization methodologies. The space applications make long term reliability of the devices a very pertinent issue and involves both the process and device characterization. In this paper we describe the experimental setup and measurement results on RF MEMS switches fabricated for DC to 30 GHz applications. The on-wafer experimental setup, based on standard manual microprobe station provides dual pulse actuation voltage waveforms with programmable period and amplitude, ranging from 10^-5 to 1 sec and 0-200 volts respectively. The usefulness of the dual-pulse testing is demonstrated by the minimal charge generation in the dielectric layer and capacitance measurements with negligible variations over long measurement periods.