Abstract
This paper presents a series combination of metal to metal contact and capacitive RF-MEMS switches for multi-band wireless applications. For performance improvement a novel capacitive shunt switch is used and the response has been compared with a conventional shunt device. The proposed design shows the insertion loss better than 0.35 dB and return loss below 13.96 dB up to 30 GHz as compared to 1.64 dB insertion loss and 6.14 dB of return loss with conventional device. Isolation peaks of 75.33, 71.58 and 72.98 dB has been observed at 8.2, 7.3 and 15.5 GHz when left, right or both cantilevers are electro-statically actuated in the down-state respectively, whereas conventional device has peak only at 7.3 GHz. Further, a reduction of about 60 % in the pull-in voltage of capacitive switch and 17.5 % in device area has also been observed. The proposed design can be used as a building block for multiple throw switches and switch matrices for the future reconfigurable RF front end applications.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Brown, E.R.: RF-MEMS switches for reconfigurable integrated circuits. J. IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory Tech. 46(11), 1868–1880 (1998)
Rangra, K., Margesin, B., Lorenzelli, L., Giacomozzi, F., Collinni, C., Zen, M., Gsonicini, S., Tin, L.D., Gaddi, R.: Symmetric toggle switch—a new type of rf MEMS switch for telecommunication applications: design and fabrication. J. Sens. Actuators A 123–124, 505–514 (2005)
Angira, M., Rangra, K.: Performance improvement of RF-MEMS capacitive switch via asymmetric structure design. J. Microsyst. Technol. (2014). doi:10.1007/s00542-014-2222-8
Angira, M., Sundaram, G.M., Rangra, K.: A novel approach for low insertion loss, multi-band, capacitive shunt RF-MEMS switch. J. Wirel. Pers. Commun. (2015). doi:10.1007/s11277-015-2521-0
Angira, M., Rangra, K.: A low insertion loss, multi-band, fixed central capacitor based RF-MEMS switch. J. Microsyst. Technol. (2014). doi:10.1007/s00542-014-2378-2
Pacheco, S.P., Peroulis, D., Katehi, L.P. B.: MEMS single-pole double-throw (SPDT) X and K-band switching circuits. In: Proceedings of IEEE Microwave Symposium Digest, Phoenix, AZ, USA, pp. 321–324 (2001)
DiNardo, S., Farinelli, P., Giacomozzi, F., Mannocchi, G., Marcelli, R., Margesin, B., Mulloni, P.M., Russer, V., Sorrentino, R., Vitulli, F., Vietzorreck, L.: Broadband RF-MEMS based SPDT. In: Proceedings of European Microwave Conference, Manchester, pp. 1727–1730 (2006)
Muldavin, J.B., Rebeiz, G.M.: Novel series and shunt MEMS switch geometries for X-band applications. In: Proceedings of European Microwave Conference, Paris, pp. 1–4 (2000)
Farinelli, P., Giacomozzi, F., Mannocchi, G., Marcelli, R., Margesin, B., Mezzanotte, P., Nardo, S.D., Russer, P., Sorrentino, R., Vitulli, F., Vietzorreck, L.: RF-MEMS SPDT switch on silicon substrate for space applications. In: Proceedings of Topical Meeting on Silicon Monolithic Integrated Circuits in RF Systems, Atlanta, USA, pp. 151–154 (2004)
Lucibello, A., Marcelli, R., Proietti, E., Bartolucci, G., Mulloni, V., Margesin, B.: Reliability of RF MEMS capacitive and ohmic switches for space redundancy configurations. J. Microsyst. Technol. (2014). doi:10.1007/s00542-014-2124-9
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Angira, M., Sundaram, G.M. & Rangra, K. Performance improvement of a reconfigurable series-shunt switch via asymmetric structure based RF-MEMS capacitive switch. Int J Adv Eng Sci Appl Math 7, 198–203 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12572-015-0146-x
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12572-015-0146-x