RF MEMS

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Research Focus

Microelectromechanical system (MEMS) and devices have advanced rapidly and have transitioned into many defense and commercial applications. Common MEMS switch types are a thin metal cantilever, air bridge, diaphragm, or some other structure electrically configured in series or parallel with an RF transmission line and designed to open the line or shunt it to ground upon actuation of the MEMS. Such switches have displayed excellent RF characteristics, including insertion loss values of approximately 0.1 dB and isolation values of approximately –30 dB in series-configured switches at lower RF frequencies (VHF to ~10 GHz) and in shunt-configured switches at higher frequencies (~10 to 100 GHz). Such performance enables superior performance in many traditional RF circuits, such as switchable routing in RF system front-ends, direct connection to capacitor banks, and routing in time-delay phase-shifter networks. It is also anticipated that RF MEMS will enable a new class of antenna system that are electrically reconfigurable. In all these applications being considered, RF MEMS switches are promising to replace traditional switches with consideration on both performance and cost.

Project Descriptions

bulletMEMS Capacitive Switch Design and Fabrication  
bulletBST_MEMS Capacitive Switch Design and Fabrication 
bulletAlternative MEMS Switch Structures  
bulletMEMS-Based Three Bit MEMs Phase Shifter
bulletMEMS Tunable Filters  
bulletMEMS-Based Grid Antennas  

Related Work

bulletHigh-performance and Low-cost Capacitive Switches for RF Applications (Bruce Liu)

References

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