MONOCRYSTALLINE-SILICON MICROWAVE MEMS DEVICES

Monocrystalline silicon is still the material of first choice for robust MEMS devices, because of its excellent mechanical strength and elasticity, and the large variety of available standard processes. Conventional RF M EMS components consist of thin-film metal structures which are prone to plastic deformation and limit the power handling. The microwave MEN'S devices presented in this work utilize monocrystalline silicon as the structural material of their moving parts, and even prove that high-resistivity silicon is a good dielectric material in the W-band. A very low insertion loss, mechanically multi-stable, static zero-power consuming, laterally moving microswitch concept completely integrated in a 3D micromachined transmission line is presented. Furthermore, a multi-stage phase shifter utilizing high-resistivity monocrystalline silicon as dielectric material for the MEMS-actuated moving block loading the transmission line is shown. Finally, a tuneable high-impedance surface based on distributed MEMS capacitors with a transfer-bonded monocrystalline silicon core is presented. Prototypes of these devices were fabricated and characterization results of the microwave and their actuator performance are given.