This rf mems switch circuit uses an integrated structure for the dc ground pin9 on the input side and rf ground on the output side. It also explores the hotswitching reliability of mems switches using different types of input signals. Idt continues to build a portfolio of rf switches with industry leading performance to address these evolving needs. Courtesy of radant mems highfrequency switching functions have also been implemented with mems technology, which combines many of the benefits of solidstate and electromechanical approaches. Rf mems switches and integrated switching circuits aiqun liu. This unified treatment of rf mems based circuit technology opens up a new world of solutions for meeting the unique challenges of low powerportable wireless products. Rf microtech provides custom design and testing for rf mems switches and tunable components from dc up. Rf mems switches, with their low loss, high isolation, high linearity, and low power consumption, will bring significant improvements to rf systems. Mems nems concept audio delonghi group hp agilent keysight, 8720d. Mems reference shelf mems reference shelf editorinchief stephen d.
Interfacial properties of monolayer and bilayer mos 2 contacts with metals. Rf mems switches are already shipping to or poised. Mems series and shunt switches are extensively used in spmt rf switches for multiband selectors, filter banks, reconfigurable antennas and phase shifter applications in transmitreceive modules. A circuits from the lab reference designs from analog devices have been designed and built by analog devices engineers. Development of compound semiconductor fet and integrated. Figure 2 from phasechange rf switches with robust switching cycle. Analog devices rf mems switches offer excellent reliability with superior precision and rf performance from 0 hz dc to 14 ghz.
Spdt, dpdt transfer, sp4t, sp6t, sp8t, and sp10t mechanical and solid state rf switches for 50ohm and 75ohm systems spanning dc to 40 ghz. Denhoff1 1institute for microstructural sciences, national research council, ottawa, canada k1a 0r6 2electrical and computer engineering department, university of waterloo, waterloo, canada, n2l 3g1 dated. A complete platform for rf switch and varactor design. It presents rf mems capacitive switches and mems tunable filter first ever to be produced in. The actuation voltage of the switch was measured to be 1. Rf mems switches and integrated switching circuits mems. It is also presented a technique for modeling and design of inductivelytuned mems shunt switch. Microelectromechanical systems mems stand poised for the next major breakthrough in the silicon. The fabrication of integrated mems device for rf circuits design has a key impact on. Ultrasmall radio frequency and microwave microelectromechanical systems rf mems, such as switches, varactors, and phase shifters, exhibit nearly zero power consumption or loss. Muldavin, rf mems switches and switch circuits, ieee microwave magazine, dec. Zerostatic power radiofrequency switches based on mos2.
Types and design styles advanced technologies general terms design, experimentation. Highfrequency performance and hotswitching reliability by tai wen jau high frequency design abstract this article describes the sparameter performance of onboard rf mems switches from dc to 4 ghz. There are different approaches in which high power rf mems switches may be developed, such as those based on material improvements 34. Rf mems switch integrated on printed circuit board with. Rf switches renesas rf switching system 19 rackmount rfsw03 elber s. In this paper we report on recent developments of high power rf mems switches using a matrix or array of switching elements as shown in fig. Reliability of rf mems capacitive and ohmic switches for. Over 10 million scientific documents at your fingertips. Rf mems switches and integrated switching circuits springerlink. Keywords switches, but further allows the use of metal materials with sub rf mems, quality factor, micromechanical circuit, rf front end. Adi is the first to propose two versions of its rf mems switch technology in the mass market, the adgm4 and the 1004. Design, analysis and comparison of various mems switches for. These switches are the unambiguous micro mechanical switches that are intended to operate at rf to mm wave frequencies, which mean 0. A special attention is paid to the rf mems switches.
In this thesis, a fully bicmos embedded rfmems switch for mmwave. For this reason, they are being developed intensively by corporations worldwide for use in. Design, analysis and comparison of various mems switches. A low loss rf mems kuband integrated switched filter bank, ieee microwave and.
Laser doppler vibrometry ldv and coherence scanning interferometry. These devices can switch at rf frequencies and tend to have high isolation, i. Switchable microwave circuits using the eads lowcomplexity. Mems, fet and pin rf switching devices and circuits for. Solidstate switches with extremely fast switching times. Standard engineering practices have been employed in the design and. Pdf rfmems switches for reconfigurable integrated circuits. Actually, silicon based rf mems are very easy to be micromachined, can be integrated with mature semiconductor technology processes, and have the potential for wide proliferation across the global semiconductor foundry business. Rf mems provides a class of new devices and components which display superior highfrequency. Rf switches and varactors are often combined in arrays and must be integrated with their surrounding control electronics. Two mems chips that have a spst single pole single throw contact configuration are installed on the ceramic package using the flip chip bonding method as shown fig.
In this work, an electromagnetic em model and a smallsignal lumpedelement model of a waferlevel encapsulated wle radio frequency microelectromechanical systems rf mems switch is presented. Jun 28, 2018 this value is higher or comparable to more mature switching devices, including transistor, mems, and pcm rf switches supplementary tables 1 and 2 4,29,30,31, with the added benefit of area. You can even synchronize other software with the switching sequence. Modeling, simulation and characterizations of devices and circuits, passive components and circuits, rfmems and moems, sibased devices and ic technologies received 1 march 2011. The substrate file for em simulation is defined in sonnet according to. A radiofrequency microelectromechanical system rfmems is a microelectromechanical system with electronic components comprising moving submillimetersized parts that provide radiofrequency rf functionality. Better switching characterization and optimization of bicmos integrated rf mems switches the monolithic integration of rf mems into a sigebicmos technology enables the development of costeffective and highly integrated circuits for future radar and imaging systems. Lets take a look at how you can use comsol multiphysics to simulate an rf mems switch. Van caekenberge rf mems on the radar, ieee microwave magazine october 2009. The book features exercises and detailed case studies on working rf mems circuits that help you decide what approaches best fit your design constraints. Introduction lowcost mems switches are prime candidates to replace the conventional gaas fet and pin diode. High voltage bias waveform generator for an rf mems microswitch. Mini circuits is a global leader in the design and manufacturing of rf, if, and microwave components from dc to 86ghz. Usb, ethernet, and spi control interfaces available.
Rf mems circuits applications of mems switch and tunable capacitor dr. Using the ethernet interface the switch matrices can be controlled from any computer with an internet connection, or even your smartphone from almost anywhere. Rf switches are an important component used in a majority of these diverse applications requiring a wide variety of design complexity, configurations and performance requirements depending on the needs of each application. Novel multiport rf mems rtype switches and their integration in the form of redundancy switch matrices have been also presented.
Introduction to rf mems switch working and its applications. The resulting relays arent particularly speedy compared to todays transistors. Zerostatic power radiofrequency switches based on mos 2. In this work, building blocks required to control electrostatically actuated radio frequency micro electro mechanical system rf mems matrices were developed and integrated into demonstrator circuits. Murata offers various rf switches for devices and functions, such as for modules equipped with individual discrete switch ics and added circuits. The em model of the wle rf mems switch is developed to estimate its rf performance. Rfmems switches designed for highperformance uniplanar. A capacitive rf mems shunt switch shinji kobayashi, hiroshi kawai murata manufacturing co.
The rf mems switches, especially those with wide cantilever designs, use small diameter holes 210 m in the beam to speed up the release etch while allowing easier sacrificial layer removal. Jan 07, 2014 lets take a look at how you can use comsol multiphysics to simulate an rf mems switch. These usbethernet rf switches are light, compact and greatly simplify setting up complex switching sequences. Rf mems switches and integrated switching circuits ai. Mwrf com sites mwrf com files uploads 20 05 21 g f1. A brief description of the potential integration of rf mems switches into reconfigurable circuits is also included. This paper is an extension our previous work toward the integration of the constantcharge biasing circuit in monolithic integrated circuits using conventional mos foundry service. Shi cheng anders rydberg carl samuelsson robert malmqvist. Spst, spdt or xpyt or be used in rf circuits phase shifters, filters, typical configuration. The book presents the design and fabrication of rf mems switches and switch circuits. Fortunately, a new option has arrived in the form of the rf microelectromechanicalsystems mems switch. Abstract radio frequency rf microelectromechanical.
Rfmems switches for reconfigurable integrated circuits. They are offered in standard surfacemount space saving lfcsp plastic packages. Rf mems switches are used in a dualband 68 ghz amplifier for lowmedium power applications 1416 dbm. The prior art includes an rf mems frequency tunable fractal antenna for the 0. These holes also reduce the stiffness of the cantilever as well as the squeeze film damping increasing the switching speed of the mems switch. Virtually all spacecraft with communications or radiometric systems employ rf switching network configurations and their. Rfmems switches for reconfigurable integrated circuits abstract. Request pdf rf mems switches and integrated switching circuits radio frequency rf microelectromechanical systems mems have. This paper deals with a relatively new area of radiofrequency rf technology based on microelectromechanical systems mems. Presents rf switches and switching circuit mems devices in a unified. Rf mems switches, and rf mems router circuits produced in the name project. Three reconfigurable circuits are presented in this thesis with rf mems devices. In this chapter, electrostatically actuated rfmems switch configurations that can be easily integrated in uniplanar circuits are presented. Rf mems switches and integrated switching circuits.
May 22, 2014 surface micromachining technology is typically used to develop different types of single pole multithrow spmt switches like spst, spdt and sp4t. Here we present for the first time capacitive mems switch fabrication on an lcp substrate and its characterization and properties up to 40 ghz. Bakerikassem university of waterloo waterloo, ontario, canada abstract a maskless postprocessing technique for cmos chips is developed that enables the fabrication of rf mems parallelplate capacitors with a high quality factor and a very compact size. Rf mems mems devices capable of reconfiguring the rf characteristics of a device. Mems switches with thickfilm multilayer substrates. The realized chips include the highvoltage hv generation and switching units integrated together with the rf mems switches. They require only a lowvoltage, lowcurrent power supply and have a fully independent parallel logic control interface. Rf mems switches do not currently meet the reliability requirements for this scenario.
Both series and shunt mems switches have been considered. Maciel radant mems, incorporated, stow, ma, 01775, usa abstract an electrostatically actuated broadband ohmic microswitch has been developed that has applications from dc through the microwave region. Hillars amp bti lk2000 amplifier to gs35b n9adg lm324 lm324n quad operational amplifier. Radiofrequency microelectromechanical system wikipedia. Rf mems switches since the rf mems switch is the key building block for a variety of rf mems based circuits, the first focus was on realizing all kinds of switches shunt or series configuration in different transmission line configurations microstrip and coplanar and for various frequency bands. Ultrareliable mechanical switches capable of extended life up to 10million switch cycles. The rf mems switch model, available in the comsol model gallery, shows how to simulate and analyze the contact forces and capacitance changes that occur during operation of the switch.
Rf mems devices and their applications in reconfigurable rf. As an example of rf devices, a capacitive mems switch for millimeterwave has been proposed. This paper presents for the first time a novel concept of a microelectromechanical systems mems waveguide switch based on a reconfigurable surface, whose working principle is to block the wave propagation by shortcircuiting the electrical field lines of the te10 mode of a wr12 rectangular waveguide. Selecting electromechanical and solidstate rf switches. Milosavljevic abstract an overview of the mems technology development and applications is given in this paper. Mems reconfigurable millimeterwave surface for vband. Rf mems switches and integrated switching circuits vol. These results are about 1030 db higher than those of most solidstate devices. Rf mems circuit design for wireless communications. Ultralow voltage mems switch using a folded hinge structure. Rf mems switches and integrated switching circuits builds on the extensive body of literature that exists in research papers on analytical and numerical modeling and design based on rf mems switches and micromachined switching circuits, and presents a unified framework of coverage. For commercialbound rf mems integrated circuits ics, novel solutions have emerged to. Rf switches are components used for switching the signal paths of high frequency circuits in wireless communication devices. An overview of rf mems switches free download as powerpoint presentation.
Rf switches based on mems technology combine many of the features of electromechanical and solidstate switches. Rfmems switches for reconfigurable integrated circuits article pdf available in ieee transactions on microwave theory and techniques 4611. Rf mems switches and integrated switching circuits a. The typical shunt mems switch consists of a thin metal membrane suspended over the center conductor of a cpw coplanar waveguide and fixed at both ends to the ground conductor of the cpw. Inexpensive vhfuhf diode rf switch under switching circuits. This publication can be downloaded free of charge as a pdf file from. Rf mems switches and integrated switching circuits article in journal of semiconductor technology and science 73 september 2007 with 759 reads how we measure reads.
Mems switches are devices that use mechanical movement to achieve a short circuit or an open circuit in the rf transmission line. A relay thats about the size of a modern cmos device can take anywhere from 1 to 10 nanoseconds to. Simulation of constantcharge biasing integrated circuit. The fom is a function of a switchs onresistance when it is closed and its offresistance when it is open. To increase the reliability of capacitive rf mems switch significantly, we previously suggested constantchargecc biasing. International journal of microwave and wireless technologies, 2011.
Tang abstract radio frequency rf microelectromechanical systems mems have been pursued for more than a decade as a solution of highperformance onchip fixed, tunable and reconfigurable circuits. Besides rf mems technology, iiiv compound semiconductor gaas, gan, inp, insb, ferrite, ferroelectric. Mems, fet and pin rf switching devices and circuits for reconfigurable antennas juraj bartolic university of zagrebcroatia outline semiconductor switching devices basic properties of pin diode and fets in rf switching applications comparison of semiconductor switches mems as rf switches what are mems. The folded hinge structure allows a large beam structure to be suspended with a designed air gap, effectively suppressing unwanted deflection. A comparison between rf mems switches and semiconductor switches. May 23, 2014 the rf mems switches are frequently used in microwave and radio frequency communication devices, such as transmitters and receivers, mode selection switch, antenna switch, etc. Table 1 shows the processed file of design1 rf switch.
A packaged, highlifetime ohmic mems rf switch radant. Rf circuits for aesa using rf mems switches examples phase shifter. An ultralow voltage microelectromechanical system mems switch for lowpower integrated circuit ic applications is proposed, fabricated and demonstrated. Rf mems mary kay party invite pdf switches for reconfigurable. Circuit equivalent of rf mems series contact switch. Design, analysis and comparison of various mems switches for reconfigurable planar antenna 22 switches are applied on various shapes and geometry of microstrip antennas like planar inverted fshape pifa, eshape, sshape, spiral, fractal and many more to achieve different applications. Rf mems provides a class of new devices and components which display superior highfrequency performance relative to conventional usually semiconductor. Cosimulation of the mems devices with the electronics is required to determine overall performance and to ensure that the final product meets design specifications.
Rf functionality can be implemented using a variety of rf technologies. Brown, senior member, ieee invited paper abstract this paper deals with a relatively new area of radiofrequency rf technology based on microelectromechanical systems mems. Sp6t, sp8t, and sp10t mechanical and solid state rf switches for 50ohm and 75ohm systems spanning dc to 40 ghz. Modeling of mems switches and development of rf mems capacitive switches and mems tunable filters saha, shimul chandra on. Two different rf mems switches have been developed. Characterization and optimization of bicmosintegrated rf.