In-plane electrostatically-actuated RF MEMS switch suspended on a low-resistivity substrate

In this work, a lateral, resistive-contact electrostatic allymactuated RF MEMS switch for ground wireless communication applications, is presented. It has been manufactured on a low-resistivity substrate, and its RF performance has been improved by suspending the structures 25 pm apart from the substrate. Measured insertion loss, return loss and isolation are -0.13, -38 and -60 dB at 0.9 GHz, and -0.4, -28.7 and -31 dB at 6 GRz, respectively. These results demonstrate the potential feasibility of integrating RF MEMS lateral switches with active circuitry manufactured on low-resistivity substrate under a Systern-on-Chip concept, while keeping their performance.