Abstract
This paper presents a highly reliable direct-contact electrostatic RF MEMS switch. To enhance the reliability, the contact structure of the switch is designed into a circular shape, and the bottom contact surface is covered by a hard metal Pt layer. In addition, a high resistance silicon cap is used for hermetic packaging of the switch structure. By theoretical calculation and FEM simulation, parameters of the switch structure as well as its packaging are co-designed and optimized. During fabrication, the circular contact structure is formed by a three-step etching process; and after fabrication, the silicon hermetic packaging is realized by epoxy bonding and multi-step dicing process. The measured insertion loss and isolation of the switch with package is −0.41@20 GHz, and −20.9@20 GHz. Due to the optimized design, the RF performance of the switch remains almost unchanged before and after packaging. The measured driving voltage is 50–60 V, and the ON/OFF switching time is 25 μs/5 μs. The lifetime test shows that the switch passes the 2.6 billion times hot switching at the working power of 25 dBm. Finally, the switch also shows good performances in package leak rate test.
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