• JSTS:Journal of Semiconductor Technology and Science
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.237-245
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• 2002

A new type of RF MEMS switch for low voltage actuation, high broadband application and high power capability is presented. Mechanical and electromagnetic simulations of this new RF MEMS switch type are shown and the fabrication process and measurement results are given. The switching element consists of a cantilever which is fixed by a suspension spring to the ground of the coplanar line. The closing voltage is 16V. The switches exhibit low insertion loss (<0.85dB@30GHz) with good isolation (>22dB@30GHz).

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2007.07a
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• pp.282-283
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• 2007

본 논문에서는 저전압에서 구동 할 수 있는 압전구동 방식의 RF MEMS 스위치를 설계하였다. 설계는 유한요소기법(FEM)을 지원하는 시뮬레이터 (ConventorWare)를 사용하여 수행하였고, 이를 바탕으로 deflection, contact force, stress 등 기계적인 해석을 함으로써 최적화된 설계를 할 수 있었다. 이번 설계에서는 적절한 contact force를 유지하면서 hinge에서 받는 stress를 최소화하기 위하여 구동기를 2개 사용한 듀얼형식의 모델을 제안하였고, hinge의 모양은 'ㄷ'로 하여 deflection을 향상시켰다. 이 듀얼형식의 최적화된 모델은 signal line과 contact pad 간의 gap이 3.4${\mu}m$일 때, 최초 2.8V에서 contact이 이루어졌으며, 5V에서 12.4${\mu}N$의 contact force와 116MPa의 stress를 얻었고, 차후, SP4T나 SP6T 등의 설계시 공간 효율이 높은 다양한 형태의 구조를 설계할 수 있다.

• The Journal of the Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.223-228
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• 2018

In this paper the water sensor using a coaxial cavity resonator is designed and manufactured. The water sensor which can sense water drop linearly has been constructed with voltage controlled oscillator(VCO), coaxial cavity resonator, RF switch, RF detector, A/D converter, DAC and micro controller. The operating frequency range of the designed water sensor is from 2.5GHz to 3.2GHz and the input voltage and current source are 24[V/DC] and 1[A]. The designed sensor circuit includes VCO, RF switch, RF detector which varies the frequency characteristics of the devices in the high frequency of 3GHz. And so we should correct the error of the frequency characteristics of those devices in the sensor circuit. To do this, we make the reference path which switches the signals to the RF detector directly without sending it to the resonator. According to the result of simulation and measurement, we can see that there is 0-50MHz difference between simulated resonator frequency and manufactured resonator frequency.

• ETRI Journal
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2012

This paper proposes a reconfigurable beam-steering antenna using a bended dipole and a loop. The radiation patterns of the two antennas are cancelled or compensated, and headed towards a specific direction when the dipole and loop antenna are combined at a reasonable ratio. The proposed antenna can steer the beam directions by controlling the operation of two artificial switches. The proposed antenna was manufactured on a PCB (FR-4) and a flexible PCB (polyimide). In the case of the antenna that was fabricated on a PCB, the maximum beam directions were $+50^{\circ}$, $0^{\circ}$, and $-50^{\circ}$ in the azimuth direction using the two artificial switches, and the antenna gain was 1.96 dBi to 2.48 dBi in the operation bandwidth of 2.47 GHz to 2.53 GHz. Also, the antenna was fabricated on a flexible PCB and measured under various bending conditions for wearable applications.

• 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.

• JSTS:Journal of Semiconductor Technology and Science
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.675-681
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• 2016

A 41dB gain control range $6^{th}$-order band-pass receiver front-end (RFE) using CMOS switched frequency translated impedance (FTI) is presented in a 40 nm CMOS technology. The RFE consists of a frequency tunable RF band-pass filter (BPF), IQ gm cells, and IQ TIAs. The RF BPF has wide gain control range preserving constant filter Q and pass band flatness due to proposed pre-distortion scheme. Also, the RF filter using CMOS switches in FTI blocks shows low clock leakage to signal nodes, and results in low common mode noise and stable operation. The baseband IQ signals are generated by combining baseband Gm cells which receives 8-phase signal outputs down-converted at last stage of FTIs in the RF BPF. The measured results of the RFE show 36.4 dB gain and 6.3 dB NF at maximum gain mode. The pass-band IIP3 and out-band IIP3@20 MHz offset are -10 dBm and +12.6 dBm at maximum gain mode, and +14 dBm and +20.5 dBm at minimum gain mode, respectively. With a 1.2 V power supply, the current consumption of the overall RFE is 40 mA at 500 MHz carrier frequency.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences
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• v.35 no.11A
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• pp.1091-1096
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• 2010

Stiction in microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) has been a major failure mechanism. Especially, in RF MEMS switches, moving parts often suffered in-use and release related stiction problems. Some materials and methods have been used to prevent this problem. Diamond-like carbon (DLC) has not only been used as a protective material owing to its good mechanical properties but also has been used as a hydrophobic material. Its properties could be controlled by post annealing treatment in various conditions. We synthesized DLC films using a radio frequency plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (RF PECVD) method on silicon substrates using methane ($CH_4$) and hydrogen ($H_2$) gas. Then, the change of the hydrophobic property of the films was investigated undervarious annealing temperatures in nitrogen and in oxygen ambient. The films, that were annealed above $700^{\circ}C$ in nitrogen ambient, showed a high contact angle of water (> $90^{\circ}$) even though their mechanical property was sacrificed to some degree. The structural variation and the changes of the hydrophobic and mechanical properties of the DLC films were analyzed by Raman spectrum, contact angle measurement, surface profiler, and a nanoindentation test.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences
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• v.34 no.2A
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• pp.139-146
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• 2009

This paper presents an average internal loop-back antenna calibration method for array antenna in TDD(Time Division Duplex) systems. The proposed method calibrates the amplitude and the phase of RF systems using into mal coupler and switches without aids of external calibration systems. The average calibration scheme of the proposed method also increases reliability of calibration performance. Computer simulation demonstrates that the proposed method corrects beamforming angles of DOA estimation algorithm and BER performance in transmit power allocation scheme.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.553-561
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• 2011

A theoretical approach is carried out to predict the quality factors of flexible modes of a microcantilever on a squeeze-film. The frequency response function of an inertially-excited microcantilever beam is derived using an Euler-Bernoulli beam theory. The external force due to squeeze-film phenomenon is developed from the Reynolds equation. Slip boundary conditions are employed at the interfaces between the fluid and the structure to consider the gas rarefaction effect, and pressure boundary condition at both ends of fluid analysis region is enhanced to increase the exactness of predicted quality factors. To the end, an approximate equation is derived for the first bending mode of the microcantilever. Using the approximate equation, the quality factors of the second and third bending modes are calculated and compared with experimental results of previously reported work. The comparison shows the feasibility of the current approach.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2005.07c
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• pp.2395-2397
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• 2005

A low voltage operated piezoelectric RF MEMS in-line switch has been realized by using silicon bulk micromachining technologies for advanced mobile/wireless applications. The developed RF MEMS in-line switches were comprised of four piezoelectric cantilever actuators with an Au contact metal electrode and a suspended Au signal transmission line above the silicon substrate. The measured operation dc bias voltages were ranged from 2.5 to 4 volts by varying the thickness and the length of the piezoelectric cantilever actuators, which are well agreed with the simulation results. The measured isolation and insertion loss of the switch with series configuration were -43dB and -0.21dB (including parasitic effects of the silicon substrate) at a frequency of 2GHz and an actuation voltage of 3 volts.