A Novel MEMS Capacitor with a Side Wall for High Tuning Ranges

Abstract

These days, the market of wireless communications has developed dramatically. Thus, demand increased with respect to wireless communication terminals that consume less power. Consequently, integration technology for passive elements and circuit module development with respect to ‘Radio frequency systems’ using ‘Micro electro mechanical system’ is becoming a focused topic. Many researchers focused various perspectives in this field. The development of ultra-low operating voltage elements is required in voltage-tunable MEMS-type capacitors, but development for satisfying demands has not occurred. Among many studies, a capacitor with a high tuning range using carrier beams has been proposed by Barki-Kassem and others in 2006. In the proposed study, a high tuning range was generated using a carrier beam when the voltage was applied, passing through the pull-in point and exceeding the controllable range. However, these carrier beams are relatively inefficient because these are applied only in one location and not in several air gaps. Therefore, this study dealt with the optimization of a new MEMS capacitor concept, such as using a total of four beams and by applying a side wall instead of a single carrier beam compared to the previous study. Therefore, in this study, further steps were applied to existing research findings to optimize a new concept MEMS capacitor by applying the side wall instead of a carrier beam. The side wall is the same as the one used in the four-beam example.