TY - JOUR
T1 - Thick membrane operated rf microelectromechanical system switch with low actuation voltage
AU - Kim, Jongseok
AU - Kwon, Sangwook
AU - Hong, Youngtack
AU - Jeong, Heemoon
AU - Song, Insang
AU - Ju, Byeongkwon
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported in part by the National Research Laboratory (NRL), under Contract No. ROA-2007-000-20111-0 Program of the Ministry of Science and Technology Korea Science and Engineering Foundation.
PY - 2009
Y1 - 2009
N2 - Most researcher who have studied the radio frequency (rf) microelectromechanical system (MEMS) switch has focused on the electrostatic actuation types switch because of this type's low power consumption, simple fabrication method, and good rf characteristics compared to magnetic, thermal, and piezoelectric driving method. However, most of electrostatic actuation type switch needs high operation voltage compared to other types. One of the reasons that affect the high operation voltage is the bending of the membrane because of an internal stress gradient. This bending increases the gap between electrode and membrane. To solve this problem, the authors developed the thick membrane operated seesaw type rf MEMS switch. This membrane consisted of a pivot under single crystal thick silicon membrane for a seesaw mode operation and a flexible spring for an up-down actuation mode. After the fabrication of this switch, the authors measured its rf characteristics. The minimum actuation voltage was about 12 V, the isolation is about -50 dB, and the insertion loss was about -0.2 dB at 2 GHz, respectively.
AB - Most researcher who have studied the radio frequency (rf) microelectromechanical system (MEMS) switch has focused on the electrostatic actuation types switch because of this type's low power consumption, simple fabrication method, and good rf characteristics compared to magnetic, thermal, and piezoelectric driving method. However, most of electrostatic actuation type switch needs high operation voltage compared to other types. One of the reasons that affect the high operation voltage is the bending of the membrane because of an internal stress gradient. This bending increases the gap between electrode and membrane. To solve this problem, the authors developed the thick membrane operated seesaw type rf MEMS switch. This membrane consisted of a pivot under single crystal thick silicon membrane for a seesaw mode operation and a flexible spring for an up-down actuation mode. After the fabrication of this switch, the authors measured its rf characteristics. The minimum actuation voltage was about 12 V, the isolation is about -50 dB, and the insertion loss was about -0.2 dB at 2 GHz, respectively.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=59949092332&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1116/1.3032916
DO - 10.1116/1.3032916
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:59949092332
SN - 1071-1023
VL - 27
SP - 1
EP - 5
JO - Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology B: Microelectronics and Nanometer Structures
JF - Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology B: Microelectronics and Nanometer Structures
IS - 1
ER -