Design and Fabrication Considerations in Developing High-Q MEMS Capacitors and Inductors

Abstract — Despite great advancement in micromachining techniques, design and fabrication of high-Q tunable capacitors and inductors remain to be a challenging task. This paper discusses the design and fabrication considerations in developing high-Q fixed and tunable micro-electromechanical capacitors and inductors. Electrostatic actuation mechanism is employed for tuning the value of passives. The measurement results of several high-Q capacitors and inductors fabricated on silicon substrate are presented, and a number of research directions to improve the performance of tunable passives are proposed. Index Terms — Passives, quality factor, tunable capacitor, tunable inductors I