DC—20GHz RF MEMS Switch

The design and fabrication of a RF MEMS switch is reported for the first time in China.The switching element consists of a thin metallic membrane,which has the metal-isolator-metal contact and a capacitive shunt switch as single-pole single-throw.When an electrostatic potential is applied to the membrane and the bottom electrode,the attractive electrostatic force pulls the metal membrane down onto the bottom dielectric.The switch characteristics,such as insertion loss and isolation,depend on the off and on-capacitance.The test results are as follows:the pulldown voltage is about 20V;the insertion loss is less than 0 69dB from DC to 20GHz in the up-state;the isolation is more than 13dB from 14 to 18GHz and 16dB from 18 to 20GHz in the down-state.

Thermal Effects and RF Power Handling of DC～5GHz MEMS Switch

A DC to 5GHz series MEMS switch is designed and fabricated for wireless communication applications,and thermal effect and power handling of the series switch are discussed.The switch is made on glass substrate,and gold platinum contact is used to get a stable and little insert loss.From DC to 5GHz,0 6dB insertion loss,30dB isolation,and 30μs delay are demonstrated.Thermal effect of the switch is tested in 85℃ and -55℃ atmosphere separately.From DC to 4GHz,the insert loss of the switch increases 0 2dB in 85℃ and 0 4dB in -55℃,while the isolation holds the same value as that in room temperature.To measure the power handling capability of the switch,we applied a continuous RF power increasing from 10dBm to 35 1dBm with the step of 1 0dBm across the switch at 4GHz.The switch keeps working and shows a decrease of the insert loss for 0 1～0 6dB.The maximum continuous power handling (35 1dBm,about 3 24W) is higer than the reported value of shunt switch (about 420mW),which implies series switches have much better power handling capability.

RF MEMS Switch on Poly-Silicon Substrate

The improvements of the design and the compatibility with silicon IC of RF MEMS switch are presented.The compatibility with silicon IC is realized by dielectric isolation technology,and the decrease of the pull voltage of the switch is done by etching some holes on the metal membrane.The preliminary test results are as follows: C off and C on are 0 32pF,6pF,respectively;the pull down voltage is about 25V.The package of the RF MEMS switch is done by micro stripline,and the isolation and the insertion loss are 35dB,2dB,respectively at 1 5GHz;the switching speed is about 3μs by oscilloscope.

Effect of Inertial Shock on RF MEMS Capacitive Switches Property in Low Vacuum

The influence of outside inertial shock combined with RF signal voltages on the properties of a shunt capacitive MEMS switch encapsulated in a low vacuum environment is analyzed considering the damping of the air around the MEMS switch membrane. An analytical expression that approximately computes the displacement induced by outside shock is obtained. According to the expression, the minimum required mechanical stiffness constant of an MEMS switch beam in some maximum tolerated insertion loss condition and some external inertial shock environment or the insertion loss induced by external inertial shock can also be obtained. The influence is also illustrated with an RF MEMS capacitive switch example,which shows that outside environment factors have to be taken into account when designing RF MEMS capacitive switches working in low vacuum. While encapsulating RF MEMS switches in low vacuum diminishes the air damping and improves the switch speed and operation voltage,the performances of a switch is incident to being influenced by outside environment. This study is very useful for the optimized design of RF MEMS capacitive switches working in low vacuum.

High-performance RF Switch in 0.13 μm RF SOI process

A high-performance single-pole single-throw(SPST) RF switch for mobile phone RF front-end modules(FEMs) was designed and characterized in a 0.13 μm partially depleted silicon-on-insulator(PD SOI) process. In this paper, the traditional seriesshunt configuration design was improved by introducing a suitably large DC bias resistor and leakage-preventing PMOS, together with the floating body technique. The performance of the RF switch is greatly improved. Furthermore, a new Ron × Coff testing method is also proposed. The size of this SPST RF switch is 0.2 mm2. This switch can be widely used for present 4 G and forthcoming 5 G mobile phone FEMs.

Sensitivity analysis of pull-in voltage for RF MEMS switch based on modified couple stress theory

An approximate analytical model for calculating the pull-in voltage of a stepped cantilever-type radio frequency （RF） micro electro-mechanical system （MEMS） switch is developed based on the Euler-Bernoulli beam and a modified couple stress theory, and is validated by comparison with the finite element results. The sensitivity functions of the pull-in voltage to the designed parameters are derived based on the proposed model. The sensitivity investigation shows that the pull-in voltage sensitivities increase/decrease nonlinearly with the increases in the designed parameters. For the stepped cantilever beam, there exists a nonzero optimal dimensionless length ratio, where the pull-in voltage is insensitive. The optimal value of the dimensionless length ratio only depends on the dimensionless width ratio, and can be obtained by solving a nonlinear equation. The determination of the designed parameters is discussed, and some recommendations are made for the RF MEMS switch optimization.

A 0.5–3.0 GHz SP4T RF switch with improved body self-biasing technique in 130-nm SOI CMOS

A single-pole four-throw(SP4T)RF switch with charge-pump-based controller is designed and implemented in a commercial 130-nm silicon-on-insulator(SOI)CMOS process.An improved body self-biasing technique based on diodes is utilized to simplify the controlling circuitry and improve the linearity.A multistack field-effect-transistor(FET)structure with body floating technique is employed to provide good power-handling capability.The proposed design demonstrates a measured input 0.1-d B compression point of 38.5 d Bm at 1.9 GHz,an insertion loss of 0.27 d B/0.33 d B and an isolation of 35 d B/27 d B at 900 MHz/1.9 GHz,respectively.The overall chip area is only 0.49 mm^2.This RF switch can be used in GSM/WCDMA/LTE frontend modules.

A novel low-loss four-bit bandpass filter using RF MEMS switches

This paper details the design and simulation of a novel low-loss four-bit reconfigurable bandpass filter that integrates microelectromechanical system(MEMS)switches and comb resonators.A T-shaped reconfigurable resonator is reconfigured in a'one resonator,multiple MEMS switches'configuration and used to gate the load capacitances of comb resonators so that a multiple-frequency filtering function is realized within the 7-16 GHz frequency range.In addition,the insertion loss of the filter is less than 1.99 dB,the out-of-band rejection is more than 18.30 dB,and the group delay is less than 0.25 ns.On the other hand,the size of this novel filter is only 4.4 mm×2.5 mm×0.4 mm.Our results indicate that this MEMS reconfigurable filter,which can switch 16 central frequency bands through eight switches,achieves a low insertion loss compared to those of traditional MEMS filters.In addition,the advantages of small size are obtained while achieving high integration.

Measurement Process of MOSFET Device Parameters with VEE Pro Software for DP4T RF Switch

To design a Double-Pole Four-Throw (DP4T) RF switch, measurement of device parameters is required. In this DP4T RF switch CMOS is a unit cell, so with a thin oxide layer of thickness 628 ? which is measured optically. Some of the material parameters were found by the curve drawn between Capacitance versus Voltage (C-V) and Capacitance versus Frequency (C-F) with the application of Visual Engineering Environment Programming (VEE Pro). To perform the measurement processing at a distance, from the hazardous room, we use VEE Pro software. In this research, to acquire a fine result for RF MOSFET, we vary the voltage with minor increments and perform the measurements by vary the applying voltage from +5 V to –5 V and then back to +5 V again and then save this result in a data sheet with respect to temperature, voltage and frequency using this program. We have investigated the characteristics of RF MOSFET, which will be used for the wireless telecommunication systems.

Design and fabrication of a series contact RF MEMS switch with a novel top electrode

Radio-frequency(RF)micro-electro-mechanical-system(MEMS)switches are widely used in communication devices and test instruments.In this paper,we demonstrate the structural design and optimization of a novel RF MEMS switch with a straight top electrode.The insertion loss,isolation,actuator voltage,and stress distribution of the switch are optimized and explored simultaneously by HFSS and COMSOL software,taking into account both its RF and mechanical properties.Based on the optimized results,a switch was fabricated by a micromachining process compatible with conventional IC processes.The RF performance in the DC to 18 GHz range was measured with a vector network analyzer,showing isolation of more than 21.28 dB over the entire operating frequency range.Moreover,the required actuation voltage was about 9.9 V,and the switching time was approximately 33μs.A maximum lifetime of 109 switching cycles was obtained.Additionally,the dimension of the sample is 1.8 mm×1.8 mm×0.3 mm,which might find application in the current stage.

Characterization Process of MOSFET with Virtual Instrumentation for DP4T RF Switch – A Review

With the increasing interest in radio frequency switch by using the CMOS circuit technology for the wireless communication systems is in demand. A traditional n-MOS Single-Pole Double-Throw (SPDT) switch has good performances but only for a single operating frequency. For multiple operating frequencies, to transmitting or receiving information through the multiple antennas systems, known as MIMO systems, it a new RF switch is required which should be capable of operating with multiple antennas and frequencies as well as minimizing signal distortions and power consumption. We already have proposed a Double-Pole Four-Throw (DP4T) RF switch and in this research article we are discussing a process for the characterization of the MOSFET with Virtual Instrumentation. The procedure to characterize oxide and conductor layers that are grown or deposited on semiconductors is by studying the characteristics of a MOS capacitor that is formed of the conductor (Metal)-insulator-semiconductor layers for the purpose of RF CMOS as a switch is presented. For a capacitor formed of Metal-silicon dioxide-silicon layers with a thick oxide measured opti-cally. Some of the calculated material parameters are away from the expected values. These errors might be due to several factors such as a possible offset capacitance of the probes due to improper contact with the wafer which is measured by using the LCR (Inductance-Capacitance-Resistance) meter with the help of Visual Engineering Environment Programming (VEE Pro, a Agilent product).

Capacitive Model and S-Parameters of Double-Pole Four-Throw Double-Gate RF CMOS Switch

In this paper, we have analyzed the Double-Pole Four-Throw Double-Gate Radio-Frequency Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (DP4T DG RF CMOS) switch using S-parameters for 1 GHz to 60 GHz of frequency range. DP4T DG RF CMOS switch for operation at high frequency is also analyzed with its capacitive model. The re-sults for the development of this proposed switch include the basics of the circuit elements in terms of capacitance, re-sistance, impedance, admittance, series equivalent and parallel equivalent of this network at different frequencies which are present in this switch whatever they are ON or OFF.

Performance of Double-Pole Four-Throw Double-Gate RF CMOS Switch in 45-nm Technology

In this paper, we have investigated the design parameters of RF CMOS switch, which will be used for the wireless tele-communication systems. A double-pole four-throw double-gate radio-frequency complementary-metal-oxide-semicon- ductor (DP4T DG RF CMOS) switch for operating at the 1 GHz is implemented with 45-nm CMOS process technology. This proposed RF switch is capable to select the data streams from the two antennas for both the transmitting and receiving processes. For the development of this DP4T DG RF CMOS switch we have explored the basic concept of the proposed switch circuit elements required for the radio frequency systems such as drain current, threshold voltage, resonant frequency, return loss, transmission loss, VSWR, resistances, capacitances, and switching speed.

一种L~U波段RF MEMS单刀十掷开关的设计

论文提出了一种适用于1GHz~60GHz频段的RF MEMS单刀十掷开关。该开关采用三角形上电极结构,以减小悬臂梁等效弹性系数和闭合接触面积,达到低驱动电压、高隔离度的目的。通过渐进传输线结构,改善阶跃补偿引起的信号损耗问题。仿真结果显示:该单刀十掷开关的驱动电压为13V,在1GHz~60GHz频段范围内,输入端两侧输出端口的插入损耗<2dB,其余八个端口插入损耗≤0.59dB,所有端口隔离度均>30dB。此开关可适用于无线通信系统、雷达系统和仪器测量系统等对射频性能要求高的领域内。

ANALYSIS AND MEASUREMENT OF LARGE DYNAMIC RANGE RF SWITCH INTER-MODULATION

Radio Frequency (RF) switch circuit is the basic part of microwave devices and systems. The non-linearity distortion figure is necessary in the field of large dynamic range of signal. This letter analyzes the basic switch circuit and its inter-modulation, and studies in detail the measurement methods and systems of RF switch intercept point. It has provided cascaded simulation testing methods, which can accurately measure the PF switch, of which the second or third order intercept point value is above 75dB and 60dB, respectively. As the testing results are consistent with the theoretical analyses, it proves that the validity of the method satisfies the requirements of large scaled linearity measurement in engineering.

RF Switch中减小信号非线性的方法

讨论了harmonic信号非线性成因和改进方法。介绍了当信号达到20dBm量级,封装好的RF Switch芯片管脚之间产生串扰,串扰信号经过了非线性器件,就会造成harmonic。通过将两个diode串联的方法减少通过diode的电流,以及通过RC滤波器,在确保control电路的响应时间满足要求的前提下,尽量做的低频,以提高control端对非线性的抑制。这两种方案同时加入后,可极大的减小大信号下RF信号的harmonics,从而在RF Switch中减小了信号非线性。

发展中的RF MEMS开关技术

射频MEMS开关是用MEMS技术形成的新的电路元件,与传统的半导体开关器件相比具有插入损耗低、隔离度大、线性度好等优点,将对现有雷达和通信中RF结构产生重大的影响。介绍了射频MEMS开关的工作原理、优化设计,分析了可靠性问题,举例说明了射频MEMS开关的应用,指出了其发展所面临的问题。

一种低驱动电压的SP4T RF MEMS开关

设计并制备了一种低电压的静电驱动接触式单刀四掷(SP4T)RFMEMS开关。单元开关采用以低应力氮氧化硅(SiON)作为桥膜的双端固定桥式结构,并利用附着的金层形成接触结构。整个SP4T开关包括与50Ω特征阻抗相匹配的共面波导,1个输入端,4个输出端,4个静电驱动的侧拉桥,以及4个驱动引出区(pad)。测试数据表明,开关驱动电压18.8V;插入损耗S21<0.26dB@DC-3GHz,S31<0.46dB@DC-3GHz;隔离度S21>69.5dB@DC-3GHz,S31>69.2dB@DC-3GHz。结果显示,此开关的隔离度在所有输出端有很好的一致性,插损在DC-3GHz的频段内均较小,非常适合低频使用。

一种K波段双桥电容式RF MEMS开关的设计与制作

介绍了一种K波段双桥结构的电容式RFMEMS开关.该开关的结构特点是,以共面波导上的悬空金属膜为双桥结构,并且膜桥的支撑呈折叠弹簧结构.使用AgilentADS软件对该开关进行了设计和优化,结果表明,相比传统电容式单桥开关,该开关隔离度性能得到了很大提高.利用表面微机械工艺,在高阻硅衬底上制备了开关样品.双桥开关的在片测试结果表明:驱动电压为19.5V,“开”态的插入损耗约1.6dB@19.6GHz,“关”态的隔离度约46.0dB@19.6GHz.

低驱动电压电容式RF MEMS开关结构设计优化

RFMEMS开关将成为微波、高频信号控制的关键器件。针对其驱动电压过高,不能满足现代通信系统低电压的要求,推导了电容式RFMEMS开关驱动电压的理论公式;基于降低开关柔顺结构的弹性系数、驱动电极上极板与可变电容上极板分离的思路,优化设计了三种具有不同的连接梁和支撑梁结构形式的开关微桥柔顺结构。第一种结构为驱动电极板和电容上极板之间以双直梁连接;第二种结构以一组弹性折叠梁代替结构一中的双直梁;第三种结构是在结构二的基础上,改变了起支撑作用的弹性折叠梁的方向。使用MEMS CAD软件CoventorWare对开关结构进行了机电耦合仿真,仿真结果表明开关的驱动电压小于3V。