A DC to 100 GHz high performance ohmic shunt switch

This paper presents a wideband ohmic shunt switch implemented on a coplanar waveguide (CPW). The switch is fabricated using a dielectric membrane with patterned metallic contacts that short the CPW line when it is electrostatically actuated. The switch has been extrapolated from measurements. It exhibits low insertion loss, good matching, high isolation from DC to W band (>20 dB up to 100 GHz) and very good mechanical properties with switching time <1/spl mu/s.