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Investigation of actuation voltage for non-uniform serpentine flexure design of RF-MEMS switch

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Abstract

This paper presents an attempt to reduce the actuation voltage of capacitive RF-MEMS switch by introducing the concept of non-uniform serpentine flexure suspensions. The spring constant of non-uniform serpentine flexure with different meander sections have been equated by analytical expression and verified with finite element method (FEM). FEM analysis indicate actuation voltage as low as 5 V with single meander section for the proposed non-uniform serpentine spring design, which is reasonably low as compared to uniform serpentine spring with same span beam length.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank NNMDC Lab BITS Pilani, Rajasthan, India, for simulation work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, 333 031, Rajasthan, India

    Ashish Kumar Sharma & Navneet Gupta

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  1. Ashish Kumar Sharma
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  2. Navneet Gupta
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Correspondence to Navneet Gupta.

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Sharma, A.K., Gupta, N. Investigation of actuation voltage for non-uniform serpentine flexure design of RF-MEMS switch. Microsyst Technol 20, 413–418 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00542-013-1930-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00542-013-1930-9

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