Characterisation of high-isolation RF capacitive microswitches

With the recent growth of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), RF capacitive microswitches are becoming popular. As such there is a need to accurately characterise the performance of the RF capacitive microswitches, To realise this goal, the paper proposes both electrical and static mechanical models to precisely extract the performance parameters of the RF capacitive microswitches. The electrical model proposed in this paper provides a means to represent the RF capacitive microswitches for use to determine the resistance, capacitance, and inductance. The static mechanical model predicts the effective stiffness constant and the pull-in voltage. Deformation of the bridge and its contact behaviour with the dielectric layer are also precisely analysed using Finite Element Method. Finally this paper discusses the fabrication of the RF capacitive microswitches.