High Power (>1W) Application RF MEMS Lifetime Performance Evaluation

1.0 INTRODUCTION Solid-state RF devices are currently utilized in a wide array of application areas, including satellite communications systems, wireless communications systems, automotive radars, and defense applications. Currently, PIN diode or Field Effect Transistor (FET)-based switches are utilized for their high switching speeds, high power handling, low drive voltage, low cost, and technology maturity – reliability and performance assurance characteristics can be drawn from the extensive history of semiconductor reliability research. MEMS RF technologies offer the advantages of low power consumption (near zero), low insertion loss (~0.1dB up to 40 GHz), and high isolation (>40dB), as well as low volume and low mass. Because of these advantages, RF MEMS has been identified as one of the target technologies that could see high production in the next several years and capture an increased market share. The commercial sector has recognized the potential for large-scale RF MEMS switch production, primarily for telecommunications applications, and the race is on for developing a robust integrated RF MEMS switch design. The DARPA MEMS program is also supporting RF MEMS switch development for defense, space, and satellite applications. The imminent introduction of RF MEMS to the COTS market makes the following questions of immediate relevance: What are the performance limitations for RF MEMS devices? What are the reliability implications for incorporating RF MEMS devices into a space flight board assembly? This is not easily answered for several reasons. First, MEMS, as a technology, is still in its infancy and there is much work in the area of MEMS reliability that has not yet been done. Second, there is no standard RF MEMS design (e.g. RF MEMS switch) and the failure modes for MEMS are highly design-dependant. Third, most of the RF MEMS device reliability research performed in the commercial sector is proprietary, unpublished and unavailable. In this study, we evaluate the performance of an RF MEMS device under the conditions for spacecraft communications transmission (>1W) in an effort to evaluate RF MEMS switch technology for space flight readiness.