STUDY AND ANALYSIS OF RF MEMS SHUNT SWITCH FOR RECONFIGURABLE ANTENNA

RF MEMS switches can be used to achieve reconfigurability of various RF systems and in particularly for miniaturized antenna structures. In case of micro machined antennas, which involve low voltage signals, RF MEMS switches with low actuation voltage are required for achieving reconfigurability. The capacitive shunt switch derives its switching property from the significant difference of its capacitance in the up-state and down-state. The actuation voltage of RF MEMS switches mainly depends on the spring constant of the switch membrane. In this project a low actuation voltage capacitive shunt switch suitable to be used along with micro machined antennas is designed. A process flow for the fabrication is designed and simulated using Intellisuite. The electromechanical analysis results are presented and compared with that of a fixed- fixed flexure based switch membrane to establish the low actuation voltage characteristics of the proposed desig