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Design and analysis of asymmetric structure capacitive RF MEMS shunt switch

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Abstract

This paper deals with the study of shunt capacitive RF switches. Comparative study is done on non-uniform designed structures, which are simulated using finite element modelling and HFSS tools. Asymmetric cantilever structures designed along with perforations to achieve less spring constant, low pull in voltage, and isolation performance in OFF state. Asymmetric cantilever structure shows low pull in voltage of 4.1 V for the left cantilever with low spring constant of 0.84 N/m. Right cantilever has a pull in voltage of 4.5 V with a spring constant of 0.86 N/m. The material used on either side of cantilever is gold with the young modulus of 79 GPa. When the RF gap between the cantilever and dielectric is 1.8 um, the capacitance in the up state is 50 fF and in the down state is 4.1 pF for HfO2. Asymmetric cantilever structure has less switching time of 53.2 ns. By using ANSYS HFSS Electromagnetic analysis is done and observed that a high isolation of − 55 dB at 25 GHz is obtained, when both the cantilevers are deforming downwards. The presented asymmetric cantilever switch tunes the isolation between Ku and K bands, − 48, − 50 and − 55 dB at the frequency ranges of 18, 21 and 25 GHz when the left, right and both cantilevers are in OFF-state. The proposed switch has the insertion loss below − 0.05 dB and the return loss has been obtained below − 55 dB over the frequency range of 1–30 GHz.

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Acknowledgements

The Authors would like to thank to NMDC supported by NPMASS, National Institute of Technology, Silchar for providing the necessary computational tools.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. MEMS Research Center, Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Koneru Lakshmaiah Education Foundation (Deemed to be University), Green Fields, Vaddeswaram, Guntur, 522502, India

    K. Srinivasa Rao, B. V. S. Sailaja, K. V. Vineetha, P. Ashok Kumar & K. Girija Sravani

  2. National MEMS Design Centre, Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, National Institute of Technology (NIT), Silchar, 788010, Assam, India

    Koushik Guha & K. Girija Sravani

Authors
  1. K. Srinivasa Rao
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  2. B. V. S. Sailaja
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  3. K. V. Vineetha
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  4. P. Ashok Kumar
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  5. Koushik Guha
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  6. K. Girija Sravani
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Correspondence to K. Srinivasa Rao.

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Rao, K.S., Sailaja, B.V.S., Vineetha, K.V. et al. Design and analysis of asymmetric structure capacitive RF MEMS shunt switch. Microsyst Technol 27, 503–513 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00542-018-4039-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00542-018-4039-3

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