Probing contactless injection dielectric charging in RF MEMS capacitive switches

Dielectric charging is a major reliability issue preventing commercialisation of RF MEMS capacitive switches. To date two major modes have been considered as responsible for the charging of the dielectric films in RF MEMS. The one takes place during the pull-down state and therefore it is called contacted or injection charging, whereas the second occurs when the bridge is still in the up state and is referred to as contactless or induced charging. Experimental results supporting contactless charge injection as an additional charging mechanism in RF MEMS capacitive switches are presented.