Design of Miniaturized Single Bit MEMS Phase Shifter using MEMS Switches

This article proposes a novel miniaturization single bit MEMS phase offset (shifter) using triangular Micro-electro mechanical system (MEMS) switches. The primary goal in the design of a single-bit switched delay line digital phase offset is to reduce the area of phase offset bits and the minimize the number of switches, which aids in the reduction of mechanical switching errors during the turn ON and OFF operation. The proposed phase shifter is simply based on a switched delay route and reference route configuration, which is connected with a gold connection sequence switch. The phase offset is built on 50 Ohm coplanar waveguide (CPW) configuration, which would generally be used in radio frequency (RF) MEMS systems. The RF and mechanical characteristics of the proposed switches were analyzed using Intellisuite software, and the finite element method was carried out in the HFSS software. The performance of the S
11
(return loss) and S
21
(insertion loss) of the miniaturized single bit phase shifter (22.5°) are 23 dB and 0.55 dB, respectively. The miniaturization phase offset is reduced by 30% by using three triangular SPST switches.