A silicon-on-glass single-pole-double-throw (SPDT) switching circuit integrated with a silicon-core metal-coated transmission line

M. Tang, A. Q. Liu, J. Oberhammer

Research output: Journal article publicationJournal articleAcademic researchpeer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This paper presents a novel low-loss single-pole-double-throw (SPDT) switching circuit which integrates a silicon-core metal-coated coplanar waveguide (CPW) and two laterally moving switches in parallel. The circuit structure consists of single-crystal silicon as the core material and a thin layer of metal coated on the core surface to propagate the RF signal. The influences of the material property and the process variation on the RF performance of the silicon-core metal-coated CPW is analyzed in detail, including the silicon-core resistivity, the spreading metal on the substrate and the recess etching depth. Based on this analysis, the low-loss SPDT switching circuit is designed and fabricated using high-resistivity silicon (HRSi) as the core material and Pyrex 7740 glass as the substrate. The pull-in voltage of the laterally moving switch is 12.35 V. The insertion loss of the laterally moving switch is less than 1 dB up to 40 GHz. Both the return loss and the isolation are higher than 22 dB up to 40 GHz. The SPDT switching circuit has an insertion loss of less than 1 dB up to 22 GHz. The return loss is 17 dB and the isolation is 25 dB at 25 GHz. A silicon-on-glass (SOG)-based substrate-transfer micromachining process is developed for the SPDT switching circuit fabrication, which has the advantages of single mask, high design flexibility and low signal propagation losses.

Original languageEnglish
Article number095024
JournalJournal of Micromechanics and Microengineering
Volume18
Issue number9
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Sept 2008
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
  • Mechanics of Materials
  • Mechanical Engineering
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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