Mobile technologies have relied on RF switches for a long time. Though the basic function of the switch has remained the same, the way they have been made has changed in the recent past. In the past few years work has been done to use MEMS technologies in designing and fabricating an RF switch that would in many ways replace the electronic and mechanical switches that have been used for so long...

Abstract In this paper we present design and analysis of RF MEMS switches with crab-leg connection beam structures. The mechanical characteristics of switch including pull down voltage, hysteresis analysis and capacitance between beam and center conductor are studied. RF characterization of the switch including insertion loss, return loss and isolation are also investigated. Measurement results...

Integrated optical switches using mechano-optical sensing are gaining more attention in many fields due to their fast switching speed, large bandwidth and compact devices. In this paper, a micromachined electrostatically actuated metal plate to sense the evanescent field above the waveguide is presented. The feasibility of MEMS based light weight mechanical plates to achieve fast switching is e...

Two-dimensional (2-D) microelectromechanical system (MEMS) optical switches have the merits of easy fabrication and high reliability. Since the optical signal loss is mainly proportional to the length of signaling paths in the switches, current 2-D MEMS optical switches that use a crossbar structure have a rather limited number of ports. For larger 2-D MEMS optical switches, we may use nonrecta...

This paper presents the first successful demonstration of all-optical MEMS (microelectromechanical system) fiber endoscope for OCT (optical coherence tomography) measurement. A MEMS optical scanner for spatial light modulation has been assembled in the endoscope probe head (φ 6mm) with optical components and a photovoltaic cell. Actuation energy for the MEMS scanner is optically supplied by usi...

Significant progresses have been made in MOEMS for display, imaging, telecommunication, and bioinstrumentation applications. This talk will first provide an overview of the recent advances in micromirror technologies. Then it will discuss three novel applications using MEMS micromirrors. First, a large port count wavelength-selective switch using a one-dimensional array of two-axis analog micro...

This paper discusses issues relating to the reliability and methods for employing high-cycle life testing in capacitive RF MEMS switches. In order to investigate dielectric charging, transient current spectroscopy is used to characterize and model the ingress and egress of charges within the switch insulating layer providing an efficient, powerful tool to investigate various insulating material...

Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems, or MEMS, are integrated micro devices or systems combining electrical and mechanical components. They are fabricated using integrated circuit (IC) batch processing techniques and can range in size from micrometers to millimeters. These systems can sense, control and actuate on the micro scale, and function individually or in arrays to generate effects on the ma...

This report represents the completion of a three-year Laboratory-Directed Research and Development (LDRD) program to investigate combining microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) with optoelectronic components as a means of realizing compact optomechanical subsystems. Some examples of possible applications are laser beam scanning, switching and routing and active focusing, spectral filtering or s...

A low actuation voltage RF MEMS shunt capacitive switch has been designed and simulated for use in X-band (8-12GHz) applications. The MEMS switch is a freely moving membrane over coplanar waveguide. Double meander structure of tuned dual beam is used here to improve the isolation of switch. Actuation is achieved by using electrostatic mechanism because of its low power consumption, small size a...