A Millimeter Wave High-Power RF MEMS Switch Based on Two Membranes in Parallel

This paper presents a packaged RF MEMS SPST (Single-Pole Single Throw) ohmic switch manufactured on a silicon substrate designed to withstand high power (8.2 W) on a wide frequency band (DC-40 GHz). It consists of two membranes placed in parallel in order to reduce the temperature of each metal contact and thus to improve the power handling capabilities. In addition, the uniform separation of the RF currents up to 40 GHz shows the ability of this switch to power up at very high frequency. The measurements show the stability of the contact under 8.2 W during a long-term actuation of the device in the ON-state (> 50 h) and for repeated actuations (> 400 million cycles) in cold switching conditions.