Abstract

Capacitive and ohmic RF MEMS switches are based on micron‐sized structures moving under electrostatic force in a gaseous environment. Recent experimental measurements [4, 5] point to a critical role of gas‐phase effects on the lifetime of RF MEMS switches. In this paper, we analyze rarefied flow effects on the gas‐damping behavior of typical capacitive switches. Several damping models based on Reynolds equation [7, 8] and on Boltzmann kinetic equation [9, 6] are applied to quantify the effects of uncertainties in fabrication and operating conditions on the impact velocity of switch contact surfaces for various switch configurations. Implications of rarefied flow effects in the gas damping for design and analysis of RF MEMS devices are discussed. It has been demonstrated that although all damping models considered predict a similar damping quality factor and agree well for predictions of closing time, the models differ by a factor of two and more in predicting the impact velocity and acceleration at contact. Implications of parameter uncertainties on the key reliability‐related parameters such as the pull‐in voltage, closing time and impact velocity are also discussed.

Highlights

  • One class of MEMS that is projected to have an amazing growth in the decade is the radio-frequency (RF) MEMS switches [1]

  • To accurately predict the impact velocity and other dynamical parameters of such switches, we develop high-fidelity simulations of gas damping under various conditions and apply them to study the stochastic dynamics of a single closing event of a typical capacitive switch

  • In this paper we have demonstrated the influence of gas damping and device-to-device variability on the closing time and impact velocity of capacitive RF MEMS switches

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Summary

Introduction

One class of MEMS that is projected to have an amazing growth in the decade is the radio-frequency (RF) MEMS switches [1]. We apply the gas damping models for analysis of dynamics of a MEMS switch with experimentally measured uncertainties in geometry and mechanical properties. Using a first order Smolyak sparse grid [10], the response surface for impact velocity and closing time were calculated based on 11 samples generated from 5 input variables t, g, E, α, A.

Results
Conclusion

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