A quasi bistable RF-MEMS switched capacitor

Cyril Guines (1) , Aurelian Crunteanu (1) , Matthieu Chatras (1) , Arnaud Pothier (1) , Pierre Blondy (1)

1 XLIM-MINACOM - MINACOM

This paper presents a novel concept for the realization of RF-MEMS switched capacitors. The proposed device uses a tilting metal beam combined with a non-linear electrostatic force generated by a DC voltage to maintain the device in two stable mechanical positions. Fabricated devices with relatively simple processing exhibit very low loss and a capacitive contrast of 8.5. Actuation requires only voltage pulses, toggling the device from one position to the other. Actuation voltages, both static and pulsed are in good agreement with simple mechanical modeling.

Cyril Guines, Aurelian Crunteanu, Matthieu Chatras, Arnaud Pothier, Pierre Blondy. A quasi bistable RF-MEMS switched capacitor. IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium, Jun 2012, Montréal - Quebec - Canada, United States. Paper TH2F-3 - Préssentation Orale, ⟨10.1109/MWSYM.2012.6259634⟩. ⟨hal-00735210⟩