A lateral RF MEMS capacitive switch utilizing parylene as dielectric

A novel lateral RF MEMS capacitive switch was reported in this paper. This switch employed parylene as the dielectric material, taking advantages of its low temperature deposition and conformal coating. The low resistivity single crystalline silicon served as the material of the mechanical structures. The switch was fabricated by bulk micromachining processes with only two lithographic masks and a shadow mask. The dynamical response, parylene insulation performance, and RF performances of the fabricated switch were characterized, respectively. The switching time from the open state to the close state was 105 mu s at a loaded voltage of 78 V, while 15.6 mu s from the close state to the open state. The isolation was better than 15 dB from 20 to 40 GHz, and the maximal isolation was 23.5 dB at 25 GHz; while the insertion loss was below 1.4 dB at 25 GHz, when bonding wires connected the ground lines. These results verify that the parylene is a good candidate material to act as sidewall dielectric to realize the lateral capacitive switch.