Comparative Study of Analytical and Simulated Doubly-Supported RF MEMS Switches for Mechanical and Electrical Performance
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Comparative Study of Analytical and Simulated Doubly-Supported RF MEMS Switches for Mechanical and Electrical PerformanceAbstract
Radio Frequency Microeletromechanical System (RF MEMS) switches are useful for providing lowloss switching elements in high frequency devices. Since these devices contain a mechanical and an electrical component to their operation, predicting their performance is not trivial. Computational analysis can be extremely complicated due to the large number of variables that need to be incorporated. Using a multi-physics simulation tool seems like the only solution, but most simulators are optimized for only one engineering realm (i.e. mechanics or electronics). Combining different engineering realms into one simulated model will usually compromise the accuracy of the results. Often simulators cannot model a multi-realm device at all. This paper offers a solution to this problem by proposing a technique for combining computational analysis with simulation to determine the pull-down voltage and RF characteristics of an RF MEMS switch. Measurement results agree closely with the simulated results using this technique.
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