Single-chip MEMS 5 x 5 and 20 x 20 double-pole single-throw switch arrays for automating telecommunication networks

This paper reports on microelectromechanical (MEMS) switch arrays with 5 x 5 and 20 x 20 double-pole single-throw (DPST) switches embedded and packaged on a single chip, which are intended for automating main distribution frames in copper-wire telecommunication networks. Whenever a customer requests a change in his telecommunication services, the copper-wire network has to be reconfigured which is currently done manually by a costly physical re-routing of the connections in the main distribution frames. To reduce the costs, new methods for automating the network reconfiguration are sought after by the network providers. The presented devices comprise 5 x 5 or 20 x 20 double switches, which allow us to interconnect any of the 5 or 20 input lines to any of the 5 or 20 output lines. The switches are based on an electrostatic S-shaped film actuator with the switch contact on a flexible membrane, moving between a top and a bottom electrode. The devices are fabricated in two parts which are designed to be assembled using selective adhesive wafer bonding, resulting in a wafer-scale package of the switch array. The on-chip routing network consists of thick metal lines for low resistance and is embedded in bencocyclobutene (BCB) polymer layers. The packaged 5 x 5 switch arrays have a size of 6.7 x 6.4 mm(2) and the 20 x 20 arrays are 14 x 10 mm2 large. The switch actuation voltages for closing/opening the switches averaged over an array were measured to be 21.2 V/15.3 V for the 5 x 5 array and 93.2 V/37.3 V for the 20 x 20 array, respectively. The total signal line resistances vary depending on the switch position within the array between 0.13 Omega and 0.56 Omega for the 5 x 5 array and between 0.08 Omega to 2.33 Omega for the 20 x 20 array, respectively. The average resistance of the switch contacts was determined to be 0.22 Omega with a standard deviation of 0.05 Omega.