Improving the Time Response of MEMS Switches for RF Applications

Author

El-Asmar, M. ; Hariri, Y. ; Domingue, F. ; Nerguizian, V.

Author_Institution

Ecole de Technol. Superieure, Montreal, Que.

fYear

2006

fDate

38838

Firstpage

344

Lastpage

347

Abstract

In this paper, we present the latest development and aspects regarding the mechanical as well as electrical modeling and design of shunt MEMS switches. The general equations of the spring constant, electrostatic voltage, quality factor and the damping coefficient are investigated in order to improve the time response of the membrane. Finally, a rapid shunt MEMS switch has been designed with a time response better than one microsecond. All design steps are also presented with numerical analysis support and mechanical and electrical simulations. The device is fabricated and measurements are performed to determine the performance of the fabricated switch. At the end of this paper, we discuss and conclude the results of this work

Keywords

microswitches; microwave switches; RF application; damping coefficient; electrical modeling; electrostatic voltage; fabricated MEMS switch; numerical analysis; quality factor; spring constant; time response; Electrostatics; Equations; Microswitches; Q factor; Radio frequency; Shunt (electrical); Springs; Switches; Time factors; Voltage; MEMS; layers; membrane; microwave; switches;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Electrical and Computer Engineering, 2006. CCECE '06. Canadian Conference on

Conference_Location

Ottawa, Ont.

Print_ISBN

1-4244-0038-4

Electronic_ISBN

1-4244-0038-4

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/CCECE.2006.277729

Filename

4054694