Design and fabrication of a low insertion loss capacitive RF MEMS switch with novel micro-structures for actuation

In this paper, we have developed an electrostatic driven capacitive RF MEMS switch. The actuation voltage is applied to the actuation electrodes, and the DC voltage is isolated from the signal line and RF signals. Actuation area and capacitance area are separated. Thanks to this structure, both low actuation voltage and low up-state capacitance are achieved. The switch can be integrated in RF systems without additional circuits to isolate the DC voltage, so the system is simplified. The proposed switch is fabricated and tested. The insertion loss and isolation of the fabricated switch are 0.29 dB and 20.5 dB at 35 GHz, respectively. The actuation voltage is 18.3 V.