Design of a RF NEMS switch matrix

This paper presents for the first time, the development of a monolithic RF NEMS switch matrix. A prototype 3×3 monolithic switch matrix is designed and simulated at the nano-scale level using Ansoft HFSS and Agilent ADS. Simulation results show that the proposed NEMS switch matrices are capable of working up to 60GHz with good RF performance such as return loss of at least 20dB, isolation of at least 78dB and insertion loss of at most 0.58dB. The proposed design (27×45μm²) is at least 10, 000 times more compact than the previously reported RF switch matrices. Besides, the 3×3 NEMS switch matrix can be easily expanded to larger matrices using Clos network.