Evaluating and predicting lifetime in capacitive MEMS switches

An empirical model has been proposed which provides an excellent fit to the drift of pull-in and release voltages of a MEMS capacitive switch due to bulk dielectric charging. This model correctly fits the linear time dependence over short time spans and transitions to a logarithmic dependence over longer time spans. Using this model to fit measured data enables a quick and efficient determination of the rate of dielectric charging, as well as providing a worst-case prediction of when the switch will fail due to dielectric charging. This model has been used to explore the impact of applied voltage, temperature, and duty factor on switch lifetime.