• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.225-230
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• 2013

This paper presents a novel shunt radio frequency microelectromechanical system switch on a quartz substrate with stiff ribs around the membrane. The buckling effects in the switch membrane and stiction problem are the primary concerns with RF MEMS switches. These effects can be reduced by the proposed design approach due to the stiffness of the ribs around the membrane. A lower mass of the beam and a reduction in the squeeze film damping is achieved due to the slots and holes in the membrane, which further aid in attaining high switching speeds. The proposed switch is optimized to operate in the k-band, which results in a high isolation of -40 dB and low insertion loss of -0.047 dB at 21 GHz, with a low actuation voltage of only 14.6 V needed for the operation the switch. The membrane does not bend with this membrane design approach. Finite element modeling is used to analyze the stress and pull-in voltage.

• Journal of electromagnetic engineering and science
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.135-145
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• 2006

This paper presents the theory, design, fabrication and characterization of the novel low actuation voltage capacitive shunt RF-MEMS switch using a corrugated membrane with HRS MEMS packaging. Analytical analyses and experimental results have been carried out to derive algebraic expressions for the mechanical actuation mechanics of corrugated membrane for a low residual stress. It is shown that the residual stress of both types of corrugated and flat membranes can be modeled with the help of a mechanics theory. The residual stress in corrugated membranes is calculated using a geometrical model and is confirmed by finite element method(FEM) analysis and experimental results. The corrugated electrostatic actuated bridge is suspended over a concave structure of CPW, with sputtered nickel(Ni) as the structural material for the bridge and gold for CPW line, fabricated on high-resistivity silicon(HRS) substrate. The corrugated switch on concave structure requires lower actuation voltage than the flat switch on planar structure in various thickness bridges. The residual stress is very low by corrugating both ends of the bridge on concave structure. The residual stress of the bridge material and structure is critical to lower the actuation voltage. The Self-alignment HRS MEMS package of the RF-MEMS switch with a $15{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$ lightly-doped Si chip carrier also shows no parasitic leakage resonances and is verified as an effective packaging solution for the low cost and high performance coplanar MMICs.

• Journal of electromagnetic engineering and science
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.96-99
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• 2008

This paper describes a $0.13-{\mu}m$ CMOS RF switch for $3{\sim}5$ GHz UWB band(mode 1). It can improve isolation characteristics between ports by using deep n-well RF devices while their source and body terminals are separated. From the measurement results, the proposed T/R switch is comparative to the on-wafer probing measurement results of the series-shunt T/R switches. When the proposed T/R switch operates as Tx mode, measured insertion loss from Tx to output port is less than 1.5 dB and isolation between Tx and Rx is more than 27 dB for $3{\sim}5$ GHz. Return loss for the Tx port is more than -10 dB and input P1dB is +10 dBm.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2002.07b
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• pp.809-812
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• 2002

This paper presents the structures for a CPW shunt RF switch using MEMS(Micro Electro Mechanical System). Recent development in MEMS technology has made the design and fabrication of micro-mechanical switches as new switching elements. The micro-mechanical switches have low insertion loss, negligible power consumption, and good isolation compared to semiconductor switches. The fabricated structure shows an insertion loss of 2dB at 20GHz When a bias voltages of 12V is apply.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Electromagnetic Engineering and Science
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.584-597
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• 2011

In this paper, low-loss and high-power RF SP6T switch chips are designed, fabricated and measured for GSM/EGSM/DCS/PCS applications using WIN Semiconductors 0.5 ${\mu}m$ pHEMT process. We utilized a combined configuration of series and series-shunt structures for optimized switch performance, and a common transistor structure on a receiver path for reducing chip area. The gate width and the number of stacked transistors are determined using ON/OFF input power level of the transceiver system. To improve the switch performance, feed-forward capacitors, shunt capacitors and parasitic FET inductance elimination due to resonance are actively used. The fabricated chip size is $1.2{\times}1.5\;mm^2$. S-parameter measurement shows an insertion loss of 0.5~1.2 dB and isolation of 28~36 dB. The fabricated SP6T switch chips can handle 4 W input power and suppress second and third harmonics by more than 75 dBc.

• IEIE Transactions on Smart Processing and Computing
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.164-168
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• 2016

A low insertion-loss, high-isolation switch based on single pole double throw (SPDT) for a 2.4GHz Bluetooth low-energy transceiver is presented in this paper. In order to increase isolation, the body floating technique is implemented. Based on characteristics whereby the ratio of the sizes of the shunt and the series transistors significantly affect the performance of the switches, the device sizes are optimized. A simple matching network is also designed to enhance the insertion loss. Thus, the SPDT switch has high isolation and low insertion loss without increasing the complexity of the circuit. The proposed SPDT is designed and simulated in a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor 65nm process. The switch has a $530{\mu}m{\times}270{\mu}m$ area and achieves 0.9dB, 1.78dB insertion loss and 40dB, 41dB isolation of transmission, reception modes, respectively.

• JSTS:Journal of Semiconductor Technology and Science
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.166-176
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• 2007

Radio frequency (RF) microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) have been pursued for more than a decade as a solution of high-performance on-chip fixed, tunable and reconfigurable circuits. This paper reviews our research work on RF MEMS switches and switching circuits in the past five years. The research work first concentrates on the development of lateral DC-contact switches and capacitive shunt switches. Low insertion loss, high isolation and wide frequency band have been achieved for the two types of switches; then the switches have been integrated with transmission lines to achieve different switching circuits, such as single-pole-multi-throw (SPMT) switching circuits, tunable band-pass filter, tunable band-stop filter and reconfigurable filter circuits. Substrate transfer process and surface planarization process are used to fabricate the above mentioned devices and circuits. The advantages of these two fabrication processes provide great flexibility in developing different types of RF MEMS switches and circuits. The ultimate target is to produce more powerful and sophisticated wireless appliances operating in handsets, base stations, and satellites with low power consumption and cost.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2009.07a
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• pp.1507_1508
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• 2009

This study proposes a composite right/left-handed transmission line (CRLH-TL) that permits switching between the right-handed (RH) and left-handed (LH) modes using single crystalline silicon (SCS) RF MEMS switches. It is possible to change modes from the RH to LH mode, or vice versa, by controlling the admittance of capacitors and the impedance of inductors using switch operations. The proposed switchable CRLH-TL consists of SCS RF MEMS switches, metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitors and shunt inductors. At 8 GHz, the fabricated device shows a phase response of $87^{\circ}$ with an insertion loss of 2.7 dB in the LH mode, and a phase response of $-77^{\circ}$ with an insertion loss of 0.56 dB in the RH mode.