Design and fabrication of RF MEMS capacitive switch on silicon substrate with advanced IC interconnect technology

Many previous researches focus on RF MEMS capacitive switch, which presents a good performance at microwave frequency. However, those switches are fabricated using conventional MEMS technology, which is not compatible with standard silicon CMOS process. In this paper, a novel concept of RF MEMS capacitive switch design and fabrication is introduced, which involves advanced Cu/SiO2 interconnect technology and may be integrated with other RF passive components in the interconnect process. A series of RF MEMS capacitive switch structures are designed and fabricated. FIB, AFM and electrical measurement have been incorporated to perform characterization and to demonstrate its success.