Tuned dual beam low voltage RF MEMS capacitive switches for X-band applications

This paper presents a low voltage, low loss tuned RF MEMS (Radio Frequency Micro Electro Mechanical Systems) capacitive shunt switches for use in X-band. The tunable switch is designed using two shunt beams with meander springs. The switch achieved low actuation voltage along with small up state capacitance. Simulation using CoventorWare shows the actuation voltage as 7.5 Volts and up state capacitance of 47fF. HFSS simulation reveals the insertion loss in the range of (0.1-0.2) dB and up state return loss better than -25 dB in the X-band (8-12 GHz). The switch offers down state isolation of 60 dB at 12 GHz and is better than 40 dB in the frequency range 8-25 GHz.