Charging characteristics of ultra-nano-crystalline diamond in RF MEMS capacitive switches

Author

Goldsmith, C. ; Sumant, A. ; Auciello, O. ; Carlisle, J. ; Zeng, H. ; Hwang, J. C M ; Palego, C. ; Wang, W. ; Carpick, R. ; Adiga, V.P. ; Datta, A. ; Gudeman, C. ; O´Brien, S. ; Sampath, S.

Author_Institution

MEMtronics Corp., Plano, TX, USA

fYear

2010

fDate

23-28 May 2010

Firstpage

1246

Lastpage

1249

Abstract

Modifications to a standard capacitive MEMS switch process have been made to allow the incorporation of ultra-nano-crystalline diamond as the switch dielectric. The impact on electromechanical performance is minimal. However, these devices exhibit uniquely different charging characteristics, with charging and discharging time constants 5-6 orders of magnitude quicker than conventional materials. This operation opens the possibility of devices which have no adverse effects of dielectric charging and can be operated near-continuously in the actuated state without significant degradation in reliability.

Keywords

diamond; microswitches; microwave switches; RF MEMS capacitive switches; electromechanical performance; standard capacitive MEMS switch; switch dielectric; ultra-nano-crystalline diamond; Radiofrequency microelectromechanical systems; MEMS switch; RF MEMS; dielectric charging; reliability; ultra-nano-crystalline diamond;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Microwave Symposium Digest (MTT), 2010 IEEE MTT-S International

Conference_Location

Anaheim, CA

ISSN

0149-645X

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-6056-4

Electronic_ISBN

0149-645X

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/MWSYM.2010.5517781

Filename

5517781