Power handling and linearity of MEM capacitive series switches

This paper presents the power handling and linearity of a capacitive series MEMS switch. The switching time as a function of incident RF power is also discussed. The MIT Lincoln Laboratory series capacitive MEMS switch handled nearly 10 Watts of RF power under cold switching conditions and up to 1.7 Watts of RF power under hot switching conditions. The power handling is a function of the pull-down voltage of the switch and the frequency of the RF signal.