Design, fabrication and measurements of reliable low voltage RF-MEMS switched varactors

A reliable low actuation voltage RF-MEMS switch is fabricated following a very simple design technique. Using well-known electrostatic RF-MEMS equations, it is experimentally demonstrated that both low actuation voltage and high reliability RF-MEMS switches can be easily achieved. As an example, a 6.8V switch is fabricated and tested. The measured on/off capacitive ratio on this component is 5.2. A reliability study has been done on this component showing very low drifts, less than 1V after 4hours in the down state under bipolar low voltage bias.