Two level beam MEMS variable capacitor and its charactarization

A novel MEMS variable capacitor having two level suspended beams is proposed. The addition of another beam considerably extends the maximum possible displacement, which in turn increases the capacitor tuning range. The tuning was simulated using CoventorWare and found to be 670%. The achievable tuning range far exceeds that of traditional MEMS variable capacitors of the same type. The proposed MEMS variable capacitor is built using the MUMPs process.