Reliability Study of Low-Voltage RF MEMS Switches
David Becher, Richard Chan, Michael Hattendorf, and Milton Feng
High Speed Integrated Circuits Group
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Illinois
208 N. Wright, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
e-mail: dbecher@hsic.micro.uiuc.edu
217-333-4054
Abstract
The reliability and performance of a low-voltage
metal-to-metal contact shunt RF MEMS switch is investigated. The switch
featured is compatible with standard MMIC processing steps. The best rf
performance shows insertion loss of less that 0.1 dB and isolation of greater
than 22 dB for all frequencies up to 40 GHz. Switching times are less than 25
ms. Lifetimes of 3´10 8 cycles have been achieved for tests with no input
signal, and 1.3´10 6 cycles for tests with continuous input. The failure
mechanism is degradation of the metal-to-metal contact, and stiction problems
have been avoided through careful processing and testing conditions.