A micromechanical switch, dubbed the “resoswitch”, has been demonstrated that harnesses the resonance and nonlinear dynamical properties of its mechanical structure to greatly increase switching speed and cycle count (even under hot switching), and lower the needed actuation voltage, all by substantial factors over existing RF MEMS switches. The device comprises a wine-glass mode disk resonator...

INTRODUCTION Because they have higher isolation and lower insertion loss compared to semiconductor switches, the last decade has seen the development of several types of MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical Systems) switch. Many of these are electrostatically actuated and so need high drive voltages, limiting the initial gap between the contact points to a few micrometers [1-3]. Such small gaps betwe...

A new type of microstrip lateral metal-contacting micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) series switch using an enhanced transition-design technology is proposed and demonstrated. It uses a conductor-backed coplanar waveguide (CBCPW) connected to a microstrip back-to-back MEMS transmission line without any via holes or bonded wires. The RF measurements of this switch show an off-state isolation...

In this paper we present a 3D nonlinear dynamic model which describes the transient mechanical analysis of an ohmic contact RF MEMS switch, using finite element analysis in combination with the finite difference method. The model includes real switch geometry, electrostatic actuation, the two-dimensional non-uniform squeeze-film damping effect, the adherence force, and a nonlinear spring to mod...

Fast optical circuit switches with large port count will allow flexible bandwidth allocation in datacenter networks by augmenting electrical packet switching. Reported herein is the development of a microsecond-speed optical circuit switch with 50×50 port counts implemented on silicon photonics platform using MEMS-actuated directional couplers. The switch contains a number of innovative enhance...

Abstract - This paper presents a new design of microwave microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) phase shifter for dual band wireless local area network (WLAN) applications. A bit is designed which product a constant phase shift of 11.25° by switching between two line that consist of 12 and 6 unitcells in each frequency band. A unitcell is constructed by gold membrane suspended over the coplanar ...

This paper presents an innovative design of a low loss RF MEMS switch, with low actuation voltage (VT) & improved mechanical stability. The switch is less sensitive to the stiction and has less damping effect which ultimately increases the reliability of the switch. The specialty of this switch is that its beam is made up of two materials, one gives mechanical stability and other provides the c...

CMOS-MEMS-based vibro-impact devices that utilize impact-induced nonlinear dynamics have been shown to yield unique and unprecedented functionalities with on-chip integration capability. For example, a 0.35-µm CMOS-based capacitively transduced comb-driven folded-beam resonant switch has integrated backend circuits demonstrate zero-quiescent power wireless receiver operating at the low-frequenc...

Abstract This work presents an automatic threshold shock-sensing trigger system that consists of a bi-stable triboelectric transducer and levitation-based electrostatic mechanism. The mechanism is sensitive to mechanical shocks releases impact energy when the shock strong enough. A generator produces voltage it receives shock. proportional When exceed certain level, initially pulled-in microele...

This paper reports on the first implementation of low voltage complementary logic (< 1.5 V) by using bodybiased aluminum nitride (AlN) piezoelectric MEMS switches. For the first time, by using opposite body biases the same mechanical switch has been made to operate as both an ntype and p-type (complementary) device. Body-biasing also gives the ability to precisely tune the threshold voltage of ...