The objective of this activity was to demonstrate the applicability of European MEMS technology to high reliability RF redundancy switches for space applications. A breadboard of a MEMS Single Pole Double Thru (SPDT) redundancy switch shall has been designed, manufactured and tested while its long-term reliability has been assessed.
The RF MEMS switch consists of a double clamped gold beam, anchored on the two ground planes of a coplanar waveguide structure. The actuation was provided pulling down electrostatically the bridge because of the mechanical force generated by means of the voltage applied at the two lateral actuation electrodes (DC and RF signals are decoupled).The dielectric is removed from the lateral actuation pads to minimize charging phenomena; mechanical stoppers patterned on the substrate prevent the contact between the metal beam in the down-state and the actuation pads.
Generally, performances for RF MEMS SPST devices are:
- Isolation better than 20 dB
- Insertion losses not exceeding 0.3-0.4 dB for wideband applications
- The shunt capacitive configuration is intrinsically limited in band because of its resonant response
- The ohmic series device is designed to have a broadband response
- Actuations up to 107-108 or more
POC: Romolo.Marcelli@artov.imm.cnr.it, Andrea.Lucibello@artov.imm.cnr.it, Emanuela.Proietti@artov.imm.cnr.it, Giovanni.Sardi@artov.imm.cnr.it, Giovanni.Capoccia@artov.imm.cnr.it, Bartolucci@eln.uniroma2.it
