Thermal analysis of RF-MEMS switches for power handling front-end

An experimental setup for the characterization of electromagnetic induced heat on MEMS devices undertaking high RF power regime (> 5W) is here proposed. The technique is based on infrared (IR) imaging of on-probe DUT, while it is in working conditions. The measured temperature distributions, for different working state of a RF-MEMS switch, are given. The results show that for a first considered capacitive switch, the most critical working state is the OFF-state (membrane actuated). In this case, the hot-spots temperature reach 75.5°C, for a input power of 6.3 W at 10GHz. On the other hand, for the same incident power and frequency a maximum rise of only 5°C has been measured for the ON-state (membrane in the rest position). Temperature mapping results for a second switch design are moreover presented. This steady-state map offers a real time global performance overview of the RF induced phenomena, and represents a very valuable real-time investigation tool for integrated MEMS and RFIC power handling front-end.