Sub-microsecond RF MEMS switched capacitors

Benjamin Lacroix (1) , Arnaud Pothier (1) , Aurelian Crunteanu (1) , C. Cibert (2) , Frédéric Dumas-Bouchiat (3) , Corinne Champeaux (3) , Alain Catherinot (3) , Pierre Blondy (1)

1 MINACOM
2 SPCTS - Science des Procédés Céramiques et de Traitements de Surface
3 Axe 2 : procédés de traitements de surface

This paper presents fast switching RF microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) capacitors with measured switching times between 150-400 ns. By introducing bent sides on a planar microbeam, it is shown experimentally that the resonance frequency of aluminum bridges is increased by a factor of 25 compared to standard RF MEMS components. In addition, this original shape can be implemented easily in post-processing of complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor circuits. Several designs are presented with measured mechanical resonance frequencies between 1-3 MHz and measured switching times under 400 ns. Using this original approach, sub-microsecond RF MEMS switched capacitors have been designed and fabricated on quartz substrate. Their resulting RF performance is presented with a measured capacitance ratio of 2.3. Reliability tests have also been performed and have demonstrated no significant mechanical behavior variation over 14 billion cycles and a moderate sensitivity to temperature variation.

Mots clés: capacitors; high-speed integrated circuits; microelectromechanical systems (MEMS)

Benjamin Lacroix, Arnaud Pothier, Aurelian Crunteanu, C. Cibert, Frédéric Dumas-Bouchiat, et al.. Sub-microsecond RF MEMS switched capacitors. IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, 2007, 55 (6), pp.1314-1321. ⟨10.1109/TMTT.2007.897760⟩. ⟨hal-00177182⟩