A packaged, high-lifetime ohmic MEMS RF switch

An electrostatically actuated broadband ohmic microswitch has been developed that has applications from DC through the microwave region. The microswitch is a 3-terminal device based on a cantilever beam and is fabricated using an all-metal, surface micromachining process. It operates in a hermetic environment obtained through a wafer-bonding process. Characteristics of the wafer-level packaged switch include DC on-resistance of less than 1 Ohm with an actuation voltage of 80 V, lifetime of greater than 1010 cycles with on-resistance variation of less than 0.2 Ohm and current handling capability of 1 Ampere. Key RF characteristics at 2 GHz include an insertion loss of 0.32 dB and isolation of 33 dB for our 4-contact microswitch. Preliminary measurements at higher microwave frequencies are extremely promising with full characterization and planned product improvements underway.