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Design and characterization of an active recovering mechanism for high-performance RF MEMS redundancy switches

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2011

Francesco Solazzi ,
Augusto Tazzoli ,
Paola Farinelli ,
Alessandro Faes ,
Viviana Mulloni ,
Benno Margesin  and
Gaudenzio Meneghesso
Francesco Solazzi*
Affiliation:
Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK), Via Sommarive 18, 38123 Trento, Italy. Phone: +39 0461 314 456
Augusto Tazzoli
Affiliation:
Department of Information Engineering, University of Padova and IUNET, Via Gradenigo 6/b, 35100 Padova, Italy Department of Electrical and Systems Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
Paola Farinelli
Affiliation:
RF Microtech, Via G. Duranti, 93, 06125 Perugia, Italy
Alessandro Faes
Affiliation:
Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK), Via Sommarive 18, 38123 Trento, Italy. Phone: +39 0461 314 456
Viviana Mulloni
Affiliation:
Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK), Via Sommarive 18, 38123 Trento, Italy. Phone: +39 0461 314 456
Benno Margesin
Affiliation:
Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK), Via Sommarive 18, 38123 Trento, Italy. Phone: +39 0461 314 456
Gaudenzio Meneghesso
Affiliation:
Department of Information Engineering, University of Padova and IUNET, Via Gradenigo 6/b, 35100 Padova, Italy
*
Corresponding author: F. Solazzi Email: solazzi@fbk.eu
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Abstract

This paper presents the design and characterization of an active push/pull toggle RF micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) switch for satellite redundancy networks. The actively controlled pull-up mechanism allows for extended restoring capabilities of the switch in case of ON-state stiction. As a proof of concept an active push/pull MEMS capacitive switch was modeled, designed, and manufactured in shunt configuration on a 50 Ω coplanar transmission line. RF measurement results show a return loss better than 15 dB in the 0.1–40 GHz range and an insertion loss better than 0.5 dB over the same range. The restoring capability of the switch was experimentally proved up to 9 h, and a predictive model was proposed for the estimation of the switch time to failure.

Keywords

RF MEMS switchLong-term reliabilityActive restoring mechanism
Type
Research Papers
Information
International Journal of Microwave and Wireless Technologies , Volume 3 , Special Issue 5: RF MEMS , October 2011 , pp. 539 - 546
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and the European Microwave Association 2011

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References

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