A low loss and power efficient micro-electro-thermally actuated RF MEMS switch for low power and low loss applications

A novel laterally and micro-electro-thermally actuated RF MEMS switch is presented in this paper. Despite many RF MEMS switches requiring continuous actuation voltage to hold the switch at ON-state, the proposed switch remains ON without any DC power. The mechanical design of the switch is in such a way that, the contact force of the switch is in mN range with zero DC power consumption. The switch is modeled and its operation is comprehensively analyzed. The fabrication process is completely compatible with standard MetalMUMPs process. The switch requires actuation voltages of 0.5 and 0.9 V for U-shaped and V-shaped actuators, respectively. The switch is normally OFF with isolation of - 20 dB up to 100 GHz. The insertion loss of the switch at ON-state is better than - 0.1 dB up to 40 GHz and the return loss is below - 10 dB up to 100 GHz. The power consumption of the switch is confined to the transition time of the switch between OFF and ON states. Based on analytical and numerical simulations, the contact resistance of the switch is 0.028 a"broken vertical bar. The proposed switch in this paper is dedicated for applications in mobile front-ends especially antenna switch networks where the signal loss and power consumption are the main constraints.