RF MEMS are commonly known as electrostatic devices using high electric field for their actuation. They can be exposed to transient voltages in any environment, and are very sensitive. According to this point of view, it is necessary to understand and analyze the degradations and failure criteria that can make them useless or reduce their lifetime. This paper deals with the investigation of ESD...

This work relates to a novel piezoelectric transformer to be used in an autonomous sensor unit, possibly in conjunction with a RF-MEMS retro-modulator.

The design of RF MEMS switches involves several disciplines: mechanics, materials science and electrical engineering. While significant progress has been made in the RF design of the switches, mechanical and material studies are required for mass commercialization of reliable devices. Senturia and co-workers at MIT have presented a closed form solution to describe the electromechanical behavior...

In this paper, RF MEMS Capacitive Switches for two different dielectrics hafnium oxide (HfO2) and silicon nitride (Si3N4) are presented. The switches have been characterized and compared in terms of RF performance. The major impact of the change from Si3N4 to HfO2 having dielectric constant 20 is the reduction in overall dimension of the switch; capacitive area is reduced by 66% leading to over...

-Micro Electro Mechanical Systems will soon usher in a new technological renaissance. Just as ICs brought the pocket calculator, PC, and video games, MEMS will provide a new set of products and markets. Learn about the state of the art, from inertial sensors to microfluidic devices[1]. Over the last few years, considerable effort has gone into the study of the failure mechanisms and reliability...

This paper presents the design, fabrication and characterization of an RF MEMS switch. Low actuation voltage and high isolation of the switch were achieved by exploiting buckling and bending effects induced by well-controlled residual stress. The effects of residual stress on improving the switch performance have been investigated using both analytical and numerical methods. The proposed RF swi...

Resonators serve as essential components in radio-frequency (RF) electronics, forming the backbone of filters and tuned amplifiers. However, traditional solid state or mechanic implementations of resonators and filters tend to be bulky and power hungry, limiting the versatility of communications, guidance, and avionics systems. Microelectro-mechanical systems (MEMS) are promising replacements f...