A new approach of lateral RF MEMS switch

This paper presents a novel lateral series microwave switch fabricated on a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrate with a finite ground coplanar waveguide (FGCPW) configuration which is laterally actuated by the electrostatic force. The switch is built with a cantilever beam in the direction of the signal line and a fixed electrode is located opposite the cantilever beam. The mechanical structures are fabricated using SOI deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) and shadow mask technology. The fabricated lateral RF MEMS switch has an isolation of 16 dB at 20 GHz. The insertion loss of the switch is 1 dB and return loss is 15 dB at 20 GHz. The threshold voltage is 19.2 V and switching time is 30 μs.