MEMS SWITCHES WITH STEPPED PULL-DOWN VOLTAGE FOR TUNABLE PHASE SHIFTERS
P. FARINELLI, V. LEUS, A. OCERA, B. MARGESIN, D. ELATA, R. SORRENTINO

Abstract. Novel MEMS switches with stepped pulldown voltage are introduced for applications in MEMStunable phase shifters. A dual band phase shifter has been designed employing four couples of those ohmic contact MEMS switches, each one designed to have a different pulldown voltage in the range of 12-60 Volts with an increasing step of about 15 Volts. A significant reduction of the biasing network complexity is achieved, allowing to reconfigure the phase shifter by using a single control signal. The electromechanical and electromagnetic design of the single switches as well as the complete device are presented in this paper. The devices are designed on a 525 µm high resistivity silicon substrate, employing the ITC-irst well-established eight-mask surface micro-machining process. The fabrication is presently in progress at Itc-irst laboratories in Trento, Italy.