STUDY, DESIGN & ANALYSIS OF SHUNT RF MEMS CAPACITIVE SWITCHES AND SWITCHED CAPACITORS

JOHNSON TAYE SCHOLAR: 11-24-104 M.TECH 3RD SEMESTER PROJECT GUIDE MR. KOUSHIK GUHA ASST. PROFESSOR
NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY SILCHAR, ASSAM-788010

INTRODUCTION

Developed since 1970s. Four distinct areas

1. 2.

3. 4.

RF MEMS switches, varactors, and inductors. Micromachined transmission lines, high-Q resonators, filters, and antennas (suitable for 12200 GHz). FBAR (thin film bulk acoustic resonators) and filters. RF micromechanical resonators and filters (use the
mechanical vibrations of extremely small beams to achieve high-Q resonance at 0.01200 MHz in vacuum).

RF MEMS SWITCHES

Essentially, miniature devices that use a mechanical movement to achieve a short circuit or an open circuit in a transmission line. Dr. Larry Larson developed the first MEMS switch in 1990-1991 under the support of DARPA. Conventional switching devices: FET and PIN diodes

High Insertion loss, low isolation

MEMS switches: low insertion loss, high isolation.

COMPARISON
PARAMETERS Voltage (V) Current (mA) Power consumption(mW) Switching time Cup (series) (fF) Rs (series) () Capacitance ratio Cut-off frequency (THz) Isolation (110 GHz) Isolation (1040 GHz) RF MEMS 2080 0 0.050.1 1300 ms 16 0.52 40500 20-80 THz Very High Very High PIN DIODE 35 320 5100 1100 ns 4080 24 10 41000 High Medium FET 35 0 0.050.1 1100 ns 70140 46 n/a 0.5-2 Medium Low

Isolation (60100 GHz)

Loss (1100 GHz) (dB)

High
0.05-0.2

Medium
0.3-1.2

None
0.4-2.5

RF MEMS SWITCH CONFIGURATIONS

Two distinct parts:

Mechanical(actuation)
Electrostatic,

section

magnetostatic, piezoelectric and thermal.

Electrical
Series

section

or Shunt Metal-to-metal(DC) contact or Capacitive contact

ELECTROSTATIC SHUNT CAPACITIVE CONTACT

MEMS SHUNT CAPACITIVE SWITCHES

Why??

High Frequency::10-200 GHz large contact area 100500 mW of RF power Easier to fabricate than series switches

Figure: Illustration of typical

MEMS shunt switch:: its cross section, plan view and equivalent circuit(copyright IEEE)

PERFORMANCE METRICS
1. 2.

Spring constant(k) Capacitance

Up-state Down-state Capacitance ratio, Cd/Cup

3. 4. 5. 6.

Pull-in voltage(Vp) Switching time Mechanical resonant frequency S-parameters(S11,S21)

Insertion loss Isolation Return loss

PARAMETERS(Spring constant)
E= Youngs modulus of the beam material t= thickness of the beam w=width of the beam Lm=length of the beam =residual tensile stress in the membrane =poisons ratio for the membrane material

PARAMETERS(Capacitance)

Up-state r = dielectric constant td= dielectric thickness W= t-line width G= bridge height o=permittivity of free space, 8.854X10^-12 F/m

Down-state

Capacitance ratio

PARAMETERS(S-Parameters)

Reflection coefficient, S11= Vi-/Vi+

11

Transmission Coefficient, S21

S21= Vo/Vi+
Insertion loss(Switch ON state): (ideally zero) IL= -20log10|S21| dB Isolation(Switch OFF state): (ideally infinite) Isolation= 1/|S21|

PARAMETERS(Pull-In voltage)

Actuation voltage Beam snaps down

Independent of w

WORKING PRINCIPLE

DC voltage Bias b/w t-line and beam. Electrostatic force develops. Mechanical restoration force. Electrostatic force exceeds mechanical force at g=(2/3)go for Vp. Beam unstable & snaps down, providing a high capacitance path for RF signal to ground. Electrostatic force=Mechanical force,

Fig1:RF Transmission

Fig3:Developed forces

Fig2:Voltage Biasing

SIMULATIONS(Finite Element Method)

L=280m t=1m w=100m W=100m t =0.15m g =2m

d o

CPW Ground s

l w
Center conductor
Dielectric

W Fig1:Standard Shunt Capacitive Switch Fig2:Top View

RESULTS
Pull-in Voltage, Vp=15.5 V

VOLTAGE vs.

RESULTS
CONTACT ANALYSIS

Voltage vs. Min Z

RESULTS

UP-STATE

DOWN-STATE

PULL-DOWN AT ACTUATION VOLTAGE

VARIOUS DESIGNS

1.With Holes

2.Flexure Beam

3.With stripes

SIMULATION RESULTS

PULL-IN VOLTAGES

SUMMARY
Pull-in Voltages(Volts) Residual Stress= 0 MPa Dimensions Thickness Length 0.8um 1um 280um 11.875 V 15.5 V 280um_Holes 11.625 V 15.37 V 280um_Flexures 7.5V 9.25 280um_Stripes 15.9375 V 250um 14.375 V 19 V 250um_Flexures 9.375 V 250um_Stripes 14 V 230um 16.875 V 230um_Flexures 230um_Stripes

17.25 V 21.75 V 12.1875 V 20.63 V

SCOPE OF WORK

S-parameters(insertion loss, isolation, return loss). More structures with different membrane materials. Switched capacitors
Reduce

dimensions to reduce capacitance ratio

Integrate energy harvesting device to switch.

REFERENCES
[1] G. M. Rebeiz, RF MEMS-Theory, Design and Technology, John Wiley & Sons. Inc., 2003. [2] Gabriel M. Rebeiz, RF MEMS Switches: Status of the Technology, In 12th International Conference on Solid State Sensors, Actuators and Microsystems, Boston, June 8-12, 2003.

[3] Rebeiz, G.M. and J.B. Muldavin, 2001. RF-MEMS switches and switch circuits. IEEE Microwave Magaz., 2: 59-71. DOI: 10.1109/6668.969936.
[4] Coventorware. ver. 2010, Coventor Inc., Cary, NC, 2010. [5] J. B. Muldavin and G. M. Rebeiz, High isolation MEMS shunt switchesPart 1: Modeling, IEEE Trans. Microwave Theory Tech., vol. 48, pp. 10451052, June 1999. [6] S. P. Pacheco, L. P. B. Katehi, and C. T .C. Nguyen, "Design of Low Actuation Voltage RF MEMS Switch", IEEE MTT-S Digest 2000. TU3B-4. [7] D. Mercier, K. Van Caekenberghe, and G. M. Rebeiz, Miniature RF MEMS switched capacitors, in IEEE MTT-S Int. Microw. Symp. Dig., Jun. 2005, vol. 1, pp. 1217.

[8] B. Lakshminarayanan, D. Mercier, and G. M. Rebeiz, "High Reliability Miniature RF-MEMS Switched capacitors, " IEEE Trans. Microwave Theory and Tech., vol. 56, no. 4, pp.971-981, April 2008.

THANK YOU!!
National Institute of Technology Silchar, Assam-788010