Fast high power capacitive RF-MEMS switch for X-Band applications

This paper presents a thin film metallic membrane (~1μm) capacitive RF-MEMS shunt switch with a power handling of more than 20 W for X-Band applications. The device switching time is below 15 μs, in cold switching, for a 60 V applied voltage. The up-state capacitance is 40 fF, resulting in a less than 0.1 dB insertion losses at 10 GHz, simulated. The down-state capacitance, estimated at 3.1 pF, including the parasitic air capacitance from the surface roughness, results in a 77 capacitance ration for about 30 dB isolation, simulated. Measurements show up to a million cycles with no degradation on performances under 20W incident power in cold switching.