Fabrication of a Micromachined Capacitive Switch Using the CMOS-MEMS Technology

Micromachines

Cheng-Yang Lin²  Cheng-Chih Hsu¹  Ching-Liang Dai² 

[1]Department of Photonics Engineering, Yuan Ze University, Taoyuan 320, Taiwan

[2]Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung 402, Taiwan

关键词: micromachined switches;    CMOS-MEMS;    radio frequency;   

DOI  :  10.3390/mi6111447

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

The study investigates the design and fabrication of a micromachined radio frequency (RF) capacitive switch using the complementary metal oxide semiconductor-microelectromechanical system (CMOS-MEMS) technology. The structure of the micromachined switch is composed of a membrane, eight springs, four inductors, and coplanar waveguide (CPW) lines. In order to reduce the actuation voltage of the switch, the springs are designed as low stiffness. The finite element method (FEM) software CoventorWare is used to simulate the actuation voltage and displacement of the switch. The micromachined switch needs a post-CMOS process to release the springs and membrane. A wet etching is employed to etch the sacrificial silicon dioxide layer, and to release the membrane and springs of the switch. Experiments show that the pull-in voltage of the switch is 12 V. The switch has an insertion loss of 0.8 dB at 36 GHz and an isolation of 19 dB at 36 GHz.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.