A Novel Three-State Contactless RF Micromachined Switch for Wireless Applications

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Author(s)
Pal, J
Zhu, Y
Lu, J
Khan, F
Dao, D
Year published
2015
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This letter presents a novel three-state contactless radio frequency (RF) microelectromechanical systems switch for wireless applications. The switch is free from stiction and charge injection issues occurred inherently in contact-type RF MEMS switches, thereby increasing reliability and lifetime. The contactless switch is based on variable capacitance between signal lines and movable grounded electrodes controlled by electrostatic actuator. The movable grounded electrode has the capability to move bidirectionally, and therefore, the switch can change among ON-, OFF-, and deep OFF-states. Thus, additional isolation can be ...
View more >This letter presents a novel three-state contactless radio frequency (RF) microelectromechanical systems switch for wireless applications. The switch is free from stiction and charge injection issues occurred inherently in contact-type RF MEMS switches, thereby increasing reliability and lifetime. The contactless switch is based on variable capacitance between signal lines and movable grounded electrodes controlled by electrostatic actuator. The movable grounded electrode has the capability to move bidirectionally, and therefore, the switch can change among ON-, OFF-, and deep OFF-states. Thus, additional isolation can be achieved in the deep OFF-state. The RF measurement results show that the contactless switch has a capacitance tuning ratio of 5.25 between OFF- and ON-states, and a higher tuning ratio of 11.18 between deep OFF- and ON-states. In addition, the switch exhibits -3.62 dB insertion loss and -24.43 dB isolation at 2.4 GHz. At 5 GHz, the insertion loss and isolation are -2.95 dB and -20.65 dB, respectively.
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View more >This letter presents a novel three-state contactless radio frequency (RF) microelectromechanical systems switch for wireless applications. The switch is free from stiction and charge injection issues occurred inherently in contact-type RF MEMS switches, thereby increasing reliability and lifetime. The contactless switch is based on variable capacitance between signal lines and movable grounded electrodes controlled by electrostatic actuator. The movable grounded electrode has the capability to move bidirectionally, and therefore, the switch can change among ON-, OFF-, and deep OFF-states. Thus, additional isolation can be achieved in the deep OFF-state. The RF measurement results show that the contactless switch has a capacitance tuning ratio of 5.25 between OFF- and ON-states, and a higher tuning ratio of 11.18 between deep OFF- and ON-states. In addition, the switch exhibits -3.62 dB insertion loss and -24.43 dB isolation at 2.4 GHz. At 5 GHz, the insertion loss and isolation are -2.95 dB and -20.65 dB, respectively.
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Journal Title
IEEE Electron Device Letters
Volume
36
Issue
12
Copyright Statement
© 2015 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.
Subject
Microelectronics
Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS)