development of broadband low actuation voltage rf mem switches发展宽带射频mem低驱动电压开关.pdfVIP

Active and Passive Elec. Comp. , 2002, Vol. 25, pp. 97–111 DEVELOPMENT OF BROADBAND LOW ACTUATION VOLTAGE RF MEM SWITCHES* { S. C. SHEN , D. BECHER, Z. FAN, D. CARUTH and MILTON FENG Center for Compound Semiconductor Microelectronics, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 208 N. Wright St., Urbana, IL 61801-2355, USA (Received 6 November 2001; In final form 3 December 2001) Low insertion loss, high isolation RF MEM switches have been thought of as one of the most attractive devices for space-based reconfigurable antenna and integrated circuit applications. Many RF MEMS switch topologies have been reported and they all show superior RF characteristics compared to semiconductor-based counterparts. At the University of Illinois, we developed state-of-the-art broadband low-voltage RF MEM switches using cantilever and hinged topologies. We demonstrated promising sub-10 volts operation for both switch topologies. The switches have an insertion loss of less than 0:1 dB, and an isolation of better than 25 dB over the frequency range from 0.25 to 40 GHz. The RF Model of the MEM switch was also established. The low voltage RF MEM switches will provide a solution for low voltage and highly linear switching methods for the next generation of broadband RF, microwave, and millimeter-wave circuits. 1 INTRODUCTION In recent years, success in the development of low-cost millimeter-wave integrated circuits (MMICs) in the compound semiconductor industry has lead to numerous business opportu- nities in the wireless communication area. Due to the portable nature of mobile communica- tion systems, power consumption is a major concern. Aside from the stand-by leakage current and power added